Strife
by EvilBoyGenius
Summary: This story is the sequal to Malice. Humanity teeters on the brink of catastrophe, for Malice has unleashed an army of evil gihox upon the human nations. Can the forces of order defeat Malice and her generals, or will the forces of chaos conquer all? Please R&R.
1. Prologue

**Well this took shorter than I expected. Here is the prologue; please enjoy.**

 **Prologue**

Zane stared at the vacant houses, fires of outrage burning in his single eye, his fists clenching and unclenching repeatedly at his sides. He had led his army of ten-thousand gihox into the town half an hour before. But as he and his troops had entered the town, hearts racing with anticipation for the coming slaughter, the truth of it had become clear to the one-eyed general. The entire community had been abandoned, and recently. The town had been cleared of all foodstuffs, so the gihox army could not even resupply. Of course, an army of more than ten-thousand gihox was very hard to miss.

Zane bared his teeth in a vicious snarl, and his arm shot out to the side, loosing a beam of his inner kairu on a brick wall. The bricks blew apart and crumbled, and a cloud of stone dust rose into the air to be whisked away by the wind. His ire lasted only as long as it took him to realize that he and his army were not alone. An unseen spirit hovered nearby, and the hairs on the back of his neck tingled as he felt a wordless command. His discomfort subsided as he came to understand, and he grinned evilly. Malice was using that trick of hers to venture out of body, and she had apparently found the missing townsfolk.

Zane followed the command the dark spirit had given, and before long he and his troops found a cave, where a human sentry stood a guard outside. They fell upon the sentry, cutting the poor man to pieces, and his doomed cries alerted the people in the cave. Alerted them, but that mattered not, for where could the wretches run off to? Zane gleefully ordered his gihox into the cave, where the townsfolk rose up to meet them. Still, the humans were no match for the bigger, stronger and more numerous gihox. Not a man, woman or child got out of that cave alive.

It was a good day to kill.

xxxxx

The enormous fortress was at once imposing and beautiful, built as it was of obsidian blocks, and polished until the stone seemed to give off a dark glow. The main keep was surrounded by great battlements, complete with arching bridges and sweeping walkways. The gatehouse was massive enough to contain a few hundred gihox. The front gate appeared as though no amount of battering would be enough to breach its integrity. Tall, tapering spires rose from the structure, reaching toward the sky like jagged fangs.

Malice opened her lavender-colored eyes where she sat on her great throne, a wide and wicked smile spreading across her dark face. That was one human settlement down, and she knew that Karbraxis would descend upon his first shortly enough. In a month, her armies would have cut a swathe of destruction across the land. And when all of the small towns had been sacked and looted, her armies would regroup at the gates of Castle McCann. She would join them in their efforts in bringing down the fortress, and when it had fallen, she would have uncontested control over the region.

Malice closed her eyes again, thinking to venture out of body and search out any more townsfolk who had caught wind of her gihox army. But all thoughts of that flew away from her as she started to feel a burning sensation in her chest. It started small, and the dark spirit dismissed it as simple heartburn. But then the sting intensified, bloomed into a screen of white hot pain that doubled her over in agony, grabbing at her chest and gasping for air. She feared she would die then and there, but at last the pain subsided. For many minutes she just sat there, panting on her throne, feeling weak, her heart trying furiously to pound its way out of her chest.

Malice stood on wobbly legs, and she had to lean on the armrest of her great chair to prevent herself from toppling over. Many more minutes passed before she could stand by herself, and she pressed a hand against her chest. Her heart was still beating unusually fast, but she could feel it slowing down, slowly going back to normal. That is when she realized that the great doors to the throne room were open. A pair of guards stood in the door-frame, both looking up at her, their stony expressions utterly unreadable. Malice understood it all too perfectly.

She was a human, after all, and the only thing keeping the gihox on her side was the fact she held the key to their victory over the rest of humanity. It would not do to have these two telling the other giants of what had happened, for that would put her in a sorry position. She did not fear the gihox, not at all. If she wanted, she could simply turn into Fanarloki, and it would take some heavy artillery on their part to bring her down. Rather, her worries were rooted in the fact that if she appeared too weak to lead them, then they would rise up against her, and if they did that, then she would have no army. Indeed, it would not be wise to let these two leave the throne room alive.

Malice looked past the guards and into the long corridor behind them, and to the rows of obsidian statues that lined that corridor. The statues had been carved to resemble gigantic caricatures of kairu monsters. Malice felt deep within herself, finding the line of blackish purple energy that was her inner kairu. She focused that energy into the floor, and through it and into a few of the statues, standing quiet sentinel outside the room. She eyed the two guards coldly.

One of the guards lurched with a cry as a twenty foot tall statue of a _magnox_ crunched its stony fist into his back, hurling him into a wall. The gihox slid down the wall, and scarlet blood started to pool around his slumped form. The other guard spun about to face the stone monster, sword clenched in a white-knuckled grip. But then a huge likeness of a _harrier_ , its eyes glowing with a purple light, raked a hand down over his face. The gihox fell to the ground, with the front half of his skull torn right off. The stone monsters moved back into the corridor, where they became inanimate statues once again.

Malice sighed and sent more of her inner kairu into the floor, and the stone beneath the two gihox corpses turned into a puddle of black sludge. The corpses disappeared into the sludge, and then the floor turned hard and solid again, leaving no evidence of what had just been perpetrated there. Malice thought it highly unlikely that anyone would notice the two missing guards, for gihox were ultimately a selfish lot. It was not likely that the rest of them would care enough to start investigating what had happened to the guards.

Malice plopped back down in her throne, her mind racing.

xxxxx

Truly master Boddai appeared a shell of the man that he had once been, with deep wrinkles creasing a face that had long appeared to be in its early fifties. His hair had turned dull gray, but its coloring had previously held more black than gray. His eyes were dull and glazed, and sunken deep in their sockets, a look that was only heightened by his bushy eyebrows. The process of his body trying to catch up with its true age had initially begun with Lokar taking Palladion. But with the death of Maya, the young woman who had been as a grand daughter to the tired old man, the aging had started to ravage him at an even quicker rate.

He sat on a yoga mat in his room, legs crossed and hands resting palm-up on his knees, eyes closed deep in concentration. He was not aware of the rain outside his window, nor the occasional flash of lightning that streaked the sky. His senses were turned entirely inward, as he used the ancient kairu technique referred to as Gleipnir. The technique had many uses, and the one he now used was for achieving the deepest form of meditation. He used this trance to seek enlightenment, to achieve a complete harmony with the kairu and the universe itself. If he managed to achieve enlightenment, then the aging process would be reversed, and he would also become incredibly powerful.

The chances of him achieving this elevated state of consciousness were slim to the point of being nearly nonexistent. No one had managed to accomplished the feat for many thousands of years, and countless warriors had indeed tried. His chances were defeated altogether by the fact that his heart was no longer wholly in the effort. After this latest tragedy, the death of the young woman whom he had adopted and raised as his own, the old master had had trouble summoning the motivation to go on. A part of him simply wanted to lie down and waste away.

Yet he knew rationally that he must not allow himself to surrender, not until Malice had been defeated. Not until her gihox army had been scattered, and the evil giants driven from the human lands, and back to their distant mountain holes. He had his duties, both to his students and to his fellow Redakai. He was determined that he would not shirk those duties because of his selfish apathy. Master Boddai came out of the trance then, opening his tired, old eyes and letting out a long and profound sigh. As if through some prearranged signal, there came a rap on the door.

''You may enter,'' the old man rasped.

The door opened a crack and Boomer peeked into the room, his hazel-colored eyes wide in an expression of the sheerest incredulity. The stocky warrior found his composure and stepped into the room, dipping a respectful bow to his mentor. ''The Redakai told me to come and find you,'' Boomer said, his expression intense and never changing. ''Your are going to want to see this.'' The old master gave a nod, and Boomer was at his side in an instant, helping him to his feet. Master Boddai grimaced through the pain as every bone and muscle in his body protested the treatment, but before long he was on his feet again. He appeared shorter than he actually was, for he stood hunched over his cane, his back bent nearly double. His hands trembled from the effort of clutching the cane, and his breath was labored.

Boomer supported Master Boddai as he slowly made his way out into the monastery courtyard, where the other masters were gathered. They stood in a semicircle around one of the gates that led out of the monastery, the heavy rain plastering their clothing to their skin. They all stood in a fighting crouch, all tense and ready for battle. The occasional rumble of thunder was an appropriate tune for the tense atmosphere in the courtyard. Master Boddai noticed that Boomer grew more tentative as they neared, more tense, as if he were ready to leap in front of him if the need arose. The old man could not see past the masters, but then they parted a step, revealing a familiar figure, standing in the door frame.

The figure was an incredibly tall man, he must have been over seven feet in height, and he had a slight slouch to his posture. His muscles had been strong once, but now they were limp and deflated, and he had to supported his weight on a walking cane. His skin was the color of lavender, and hung loosely upon his frame, and it was cracked in various places by grotesque, black fissures. The figure had a black scar running diagonally across his gaunt face, but his sunken, amber colored eyes still retained their sharp edge.

''Lokar,'' master Boddai growled.

 **To be continued...**


	2. Chapter 1: Surprise

**Chapter 1**

The Redakai masters stood in a semicircle around Lokar, each crouched in a fighting stance, ready to leap in at their guest if he so much as twitched suspiciously. The dark master did not make any suspicious movements. As a matter of fact, he did not move a muscle, but rather he just stood there, sunken eyes staring unblinkingly at master Boddai. The old master did not shrink away from that intense gaze. To the contrary, he seemed to gain strength from it, the strength one got from defiance.

''What do you want, Lokar?'' master Baphamel demanded.

Master Boddai eyed his old rival curiously, for the physical changes in the man resembled the changes he himself was going through. The old master wondered whether he had perhaps lost his signature monster, the dragon Draquilar. He dismissed that notion immediately. Lokar did not draw his power from his signature monster, as he himself did, but rather from the shadow kairu. Then the truth of it, or at least a small part of that truth, came clear to him.

''Malice did this to you,'' master Boddai stated as much as asked.

''She robbed me of my ability to channel kairu,'' Lokar said, his large hand clutching the head of his cane so tightly that his knuckles went white from the strain. ''She betrayed me, the ungrateful child, and used Gleipnir on me. She tore the ability right out of me, and now I can not so much as use my inner kairu to shield myself from the rain.'' He looked up, the driving rain streaking his hollow cheeks. ''And if it was not enough for her to rob me of my power and my dreams, she had to blow my lair up as well.''

''And what of your e-teens?'' master Boddai asked.

''Zane has thrown in with her, and he killed my Imperiaz!''

The masters gasped in shock at the news.

''What of their parents?'' master Quantis demanded. ''Have your freed them?''

''They mean nothing to me,'' Lokar said.

Master Quantis had to hold out his arm to stop master Baphamel from rushing past him and knock Lokar to the ground. ''You have to realize that without your powers, we can arrest you here and now,'' the Head of the Redakai stated plainly, rising up to his full height, which put him at about shoulder level to the slouching Lokar. ''Why then did you choose to come to us?''

Lokar did not reply, but slowly and unthreateningly brought a hand to his belt and drew forth his x-reader. The Redakai tensed even more, if that was even possible, but then they relaxed as the truth came clear to them. Not too long ago, that device had made Lokar one of the most powerful beings in the universe for all the power contained within. But now he could not even access that power, making it useless to him. Lokar brought the device up before him, and an image appeared, hovering above it.

Boddai found breath hard to come by as he gazed upon Palladion again, his signature monster and the source of his greatest power. He closed his tired old eyes, and basked in the familiar sensation of power that eagerly radiated from the x-drive, as if it too wanted to be reunited with him. But as he started to reach for it, a thought came into his mind, and he stopped. ''Why would you give this back?'' he asked, eyes narrowing with icy suspicion.

''Because,'' Lokar said, ''as much as I want to see you fall, I want to see that traitorous granddaughter of mine fall even more.''

With hands trembling with anticipation, master Boddai pointed his x-reader at the image hovering before him, and with the press of a button he absorbed it. For moments that seemed more life minutes, nothing happened. But then the old man was wreathed in bluish-white light, and he began to change, his back straightening. His wrinkles smoothed out, and his gray hair reverted back to its previous color. His eyes became sharper, shedding the dull and glaced look, and becoming full of energy and life. He let go off the cane, which clattered on the ground, and he stood upright in perfect balance. He received many congratulatory pats on the shoulder from his fellows.

''Just because you did this, does not mean we will let you go free,'' master Quantis said, turning back to stare Lokar in the eye. ''You will be called to account for all the atrocities you have committed, and you will tell us the location of the parents of the Imperiaz.'' That said he motioned for Lokar to be taken away. The other masters grabbed the large man by the elbows, and started to lead him away toward the dungeons. But master Boddai called for them to wait a moment.

''You should know,'' master Boddai said. ''Maya is dead, murdered by Malice.''

''A pity,'' was all that Lokar offered in return, before being led away.

xxxxx

''I do not like they way they are looking at us,'' Techris growled into his drink, nodding over his shoulder, to where a group of four young men, all drunk, were pointing at him and Zair and laughing mockingly, not even trying to hide their disdain. Zair just rolled her eyes and shook her head. Techris had said this many times over their last twenty minutes in the bar, and despite her insistence that mere drunks were far beneath their contempt, she feared he would fly into a rage and knock them silly.

A part of her wanted him to fly into such a rage, for the four young men were really starting to get on her last nerves. But still she did not wish to be thrown out into the street, like at the last bar they had visited, where Techris had gotten into a fight. Zair glanced around at her surroundings, at the disco ball hanging from the ceiling, the crowd of people dancing on the dance floor, and the band playing on the dais near the wall. She silently cursed Zane for abandoning them, and leaving them to attend filthy places like this. She noticed the four young men approach, and she shook her head again.

''I see the circus has come to town,'' the leader of the group slurred. ''You're with the circus, aren't you, freak?''

''Who are you calling a freak,'' Techris growled, standing to face the man.

Zair had a sip of her drink as she watched the spectacle unfold, with the four men offering more insults, and with Techris growing more volatile with each remark. A few insults were directed her way, but she ignored them, reminding herself that these fools were completely beneath her contempt. Techris, on the other hand, was not held back by any such compunction, as the unfortunate drunks soon learned.

The leader of the group offered one final insult before Techris sprang upon the man, grabbing him by the back of his hair and slamming his face down hard on a table, his hard head blasting through the wood. That done, he turned to the other guys, who were backing steadily from this volatile creature they had just roused to violent action. Techris sprang upon them with a snarl.

''Well this place stank anyway!'' Techris roared at the bouncer a few minutes later, right before the bouncer slammed the door closed in his face, leaving him and Zair standing out in the driving rain. Zair rolled her eyes and shook her head again, silently cursing her brother for abandoning them the way he had done. She looked to her companion, then led the way down the street.

xxxxx

Roger wound his way along a rocky trail that squeased in between two cliffs, his laser rifle resting on one broad shoulder. His sentry duty was done this day, and he was returning to the cave that served to house all the refugees from his village. He stopped some distance along the trail, looking back the way he had come to be sure no one was following him. He glanced to the side then, at a large shadow, cast by an overhanging jag in the stone wall. That shadow actually hid a wooden door, that had been painted and coated with clay so as to be camouflaged from view. Behind this door was the entrance to the cave housing his people.

The people of all the nearby villages received word a few weeks ago that a host of gihox was approaching, and so the people had fled. Each village had found a nearby cave and hid there, using radios to keep in contact with each other. It was over the radio that Roger and his fellow villagers had learned that the one of the caves had been discovered by the gihox, and promptly overrun.

Roger knocked on the door in the manner of the signal, and a short while later the portal opened a crack, and the head of a guard peaked out to regard him. Roger was a large and barrel-chested man, his arms huge and powerful, bulging with sinewy muscle. His hair now held more gray than its previous fiery orange, but his back was still straight, his square jaw firm, and his olive-green eyes were as sharp as ever.

Roger walked through and down a long and wide tunnel, lit only by torches sitting in sconces along the walls. The tunnel narrowed to the point where two men could walk abreast without brushing against each other. If by some chance the gihox would get into this cave, they would be at a sore disadvantage, for the narrow tunnel would funnel the giants so only one could come in at any given time. What was more, in the shadows near the ceiling were several small laser turrets, each resembling a many-faceted metal ball, that would shoot down any gihox who got this far.

At the end of this tunnel there loomed a massive cavern, with jagged stalactites leering down from the ceiling. The cavern was filled with people from his village, going about their chores, with the children playing games. There were several tunnels that led out of this vast chamber. Roger walked down one of those, coming into a smaller cave, with several barrels containing laser rifles lining the stone wall. He placed his laser rifle in a barrel.

Roger heard movement behind and turned to see his daughter Catherine running down the tunnel toward him. She was tall and slim but not the least bit lanky, with fiery-orange hair, and a sprinkling of freckles on the bridge of her nose. Her huge, olive-green eyes sparkled when she was happy, but seemed to shoot bolts of lightning when she was angry, which was not so infrequent an event, especially of late, with the gihox in the area. She was a firebrand, just like her mother had been, and she had the spirit of a fighter, and had many times voiced her desire to go out and face the gihox.

''She is awake, dad,'' Catherine said.

Roger, knowing who she was referring to, motioned for her to lead on, as they exited the chamber and entered another, with a bed against one wall. On that bed lay a young woman, about the same age as Catherine, with brown skin, blue hair and blue lightning bolt markings on her face. Her amber colored eyes were open now, for the first time in several weeks, and they darted about wildly, as if searching for an escape route.

''We are not going to hurt you,'' Roger said unthreateningly.


	3. Chapter 2: Birgitte

**Here is the next chapter. Enjoy :)  
**

 **Chapter 2**

The young woman, propped on one elbow, stared at Roger long and hard, the wildness in her eyes slowly fading as his promise they would not harm her registered. She gave a start then, realizing she was not wearing a shirt, and moved to cover up. She calmed then, as she saw her upper torso was covered and tightly wrapped in white bandages. She pulled her blanket up before her chest anyway. Then she eased back down, for her elbow was starting to quiver from the effort of keeping herself propped up.

''What happened to me?'' her voice was weak. ''And why am I in bandages?''

Roger exchanged a glance with his daughter. ''I found you half buried in a pile of snow on one of my scouting trips,'' he said. ''I thought you dead at first, for you had clearly been caught by that avalanche, and add to that a serious wound in your side. But you were still alive, and you were also glowing, though I am not sure what to make of that. And so I brought you here, where my daughter treated your wounds. You are lucky she is skilled at putting together healing salves, else surely you would have perished.''

''Can you not remember what happened to you?'' Catherine asked.

The young woman did not answer right away, and judging by the way that her brow furrowed, and by the strained look that crossed her face, she could not answer. Then she just shook her head helplessly.

''But can you remember your name?''

Again the young woman just shook her head, her expression frustrated to the point where Catherine wondered if she might start crying.

''Do not worry,'' Roger said. ''I have seen this before, and know that your memory should return in time. You have been through a lot, after all, and the strain your body has gone through might simply be messing up your memory.''

''But until then we have to call you something,'' Catherine frowned thoughtfully. ''I know, how about we call you Birgitte until you get your memory back?''

''Birgitte,'' the young woman echoed, seeming pleased, then she nodded.

''Alright then,'' Catherine said, rubbing her hands together briskly. ''I will bring you something to eat, and then you must rest. My healing salves may have closed your wound, but your body will take some time to recover from the shock of your ordeal.'' She moved to leave, but then she stopped and turned about. ''By the way, my name is Catherine, but you can just call me Cat. And that is my father.''

''Roger is the name,'' the large man said with a smile.

Birgitte offered them each a weak smile, then they left the chamber.

xxxxx

Malice sat on the floor of her room, legs crossed beneath her, hands resting palm up on her knees, lavender eyes closed, deep in meditation. She was using Gleipnir to search her body for something that might explain what had happened to her the other day. It had felt like the prelude to a heart attack, but search as she might, she could find nothing that would cause such an ailment in her body. And if she could not find the root source of her ailment, she could not cure it. The sudden anger caused by that realization broke her concentration, and she awakened from her trance. For many long moments she just sat there on the floor, seething.

But then a wave of nausea washed over her and she rocked backwards and fell flat, her vision swimming. For a moment she thought this to be another stroke, but she learned the truth of it then, as images flashed behind her clenched eyelids. She could see the ruins of Boddai's monastery, the ruins of the place she herself had destroyed. For a few moments she was confused, for she did not know why she was seeing this, but then she saw the hint of a blue sparkle amid the rubble. The images faded, and a smile spread across her face, as the truth of her vision came clear to her.

xxxxx

Keiran McCann sat on his throne, chin resting on the up raised palm of one hand, his sharp emerald eyes taking in the uniformed man standing before him. ''Report, scout lieutenant,'' the young king said in his heavy Irish accent. The man had just returned from a dangerous scouting expedition to the outer villages of his kingdom. One of the invading gihox armies had passed through there already. The young king wanted to know if his subjects had managed to flee into hiding before the giants arrived. Still, a part of him was afraid of the news, for he feared and suspected that his subjects had all been slaughtered.

''Many of the outer villages have been captured by the gihox,'' the scout said. ''They are now used as satellite camps and supply towns by the enemy.''

''And my subjects?'' Keiran asked, his voice harsher than he had intended it to be.

''We saw no bodies, though we dared not venture too near the towns.''

''Well done,'' the young king sighed. ''Go take your rest. You have earned it.''

The scout dropped a respectful bow, then exited the throne room, leaving Keiran alone with his thoughts. The young king settled back in his great chair, though he hardly felt the comfort its velvet cushion offered, too consumed was he by the news. The possibility his subjects might have escaped the gihox brought some semblance of peace to the man. But then his thoughts turned to the invaders, and to the supply towns and satellite camps they had apparently converted the sacked villages into.

He had not had to deal much with the gihox in the past, for they had mostly kept to the mountains. But from those few instances when they had attacked towns, he knew they were not a very organized bunch. The raids had usually been performed by individual tribes, and even when more than one tribe had banded together, the evil giants had always started to fight amongst themselves, making it relatively easy for the united humans to drive them back to their mountain holes. So why were they so organized all of a sudden, and how on earth could they have banded together in such unbelievable numbers?

''These are dark times,'' the young king muttered under his breath.

xxxxx

The night was still and undeniably beautiful, with the moon sitting full in the sky, bathing the land below in the soft, peaceful glow of blue silver. That stillness was interrupted abruptly, as something large and terrible crossed the sky, cutting right past the moon. For the brief instant the thing lingered in front of the silvery ball, its silhouette could be seen clearly. It must have been thirty feet from horned head to sinuous tail, and it flapped a huge pair of leathery wings, that stirred the leaves of the trees and bushes below.

Malice peered at the ground below with her slitted reptilian eyes, terrifying orbs with purple fires seeming to burn behind them. Before long the dragoness spotted the place she had been searching for, and swooped down, upturning her wings at the last moment. She skidded twenty feet along the ground, claws drawing lines in the hard stone. Her fiery gace snapped about to regard the ruins of the place where Boddai had lived for centuries. The dragoness walked among the rubble, keen eyes searching.

Malice came to the edge of the crater that had once been the kairu vault, and down there she caught the hint of a blue sparkle amid the blasted rubble. Her neck snaked down, slitted eyes seeming to glow all the brighter with excitement. She pushed some debris aside with her great horns, which protruded like lances out from above her eyes. Then she paused, scrutinizing the small object before her. The corners of her fanged maw quirked upward in a caricature of a smile, made all the more horrible by her jagged fangs. The object was an orb, roughly the size of a tangerine, and encased in blue ice.

The Cataclysm Stone.

 **To be continued...**


	4. Chapter 3: A lesson

**Chapter 3**

Zane sat quietly at a table, rolling a piece of bread between his fingers, trying to measure his level of hatred for bread. When he and his gihox army had started their march of war, the only thing that had come into his mind was glorious conquest. Never once had his mind turned to the food he would have to eat along the way. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say the bread he would have to eat along the way. He had had precious little to eat other than bread for all the weeks of his march.

Sure, they had pillaged the food stores in the cavern they had raided, but that had mostly gone to feed the gihox, who needed more food than their smaller general. The gihox had, of course, eaten the humans they had killed as well, but Zane could not have brought himself to do likewise. He had his standards, after all, and besides, the only human he had any desire to eat was his girlfriend, and that in a different way entirely. The lewd thought brought a wolfish grin to his face, and distracted him enough so that he could swallow the piece of bread without gagging.

Zane heard commotion from outside the building he had taken as his own, and with a final disdainful glance at the bread he rushed outside. The street of the village that he and his army had taken earlier this very day was dark and foggy, and camp fires burned within the fog in several places. Around these fires, through the gray haze, the one-eyed general could see the silhouettes of his soldiers, two times the height of a man, and with shoulders as broad as most men were tall. The gihox were bustling about, and Zane understood why, for now he could clearly hear the flapping of the huge wings.

Zane looked up and saw the huge form of Fanarloki in the sky, then it dove down to land heavily in the street. The camp stood hushed as the horned reptilian head rose, purple lamplight eyes scanning those in attendance. That fiery gaze passed over him then, and there came a green flash and the huge form of the dragoness was no more. In its place there now stood a short and slender woman, wearing a black cloak. She strode toward him, trailing the fog behind her.

''We need to talk,'' Malice said.

Zane nodded and led her into the house where he had been eating, where he sat down at the table, motioning for her to do likewise. Malice sat down and placed something on the table in front of him. It was an orb that was roughly the size of a tangerine, and it was encased in a crystalline shell of glittering blue ice. The one-eyed general bent over the table to scrutinize the object. ''The cataclysm stone?'' he asked.

''Indeed.''

''Do you think it wise to bring it here?'' Zane asked. ''It could drain the kairu out of our soldiers and leave us without an army.''

''It is dormant,'' Malice explained. ''After Team Stax took it from Mexico, they froze it with an attack so that it could never again be used.''

''And you intend to revive it,'' Zane stated as much as asked.

''Indeed,'' Malice replied. ''The stone was shown to me in a vision, though as of yet I am not entirely certain of how I will utilize it.''

''You will think of something.''

Malice nodded. ''I am going to pay Karbraxis a visit,'' she said. ''I have a gift for him, something that I have been working on for quite some time now.''

''What is it?'' Zane asked.

''What we are doing has caught the eye of the Redakai,'' the dark spirit said. ''Sooner or later they will come against us. Karbraxis will be sorely pressed if they come after him, for he has no knowledge of kairu. But if I give him this...'' Malice produced a disk-shaped object as wide as her clenched fist, and made of some dark bluish material, with threads of red, blue and green swirling about it discordantly.

Zane watched as the dark spirit removed one of her bracers and pressed the object against her bare forearm. For a moment nothing happened, but then the object seemed to melt, the bluish material stretching to cover her forearm, then moving up to cover her entire arm, up to the shoulder. On that shoulder there was a triangular design, with one of three symbols on each of its three points. The one-eyed general recognized those symbols as those worn by the Hiverax before their death.

''I retrieved more than just the teleporter units from the Hiverax,'' Malice proclaimed. ''I also retrieved the components that made each of them immune to a certain color of kairu attack, and combined them into this sleeve. I have taken extensive notes, and will soon crack the secret of how my grandfather achieved this effect. And when I unlock the secret, I shall create a sleeve for the two of us, that we too will be immune to kairu attacks.''

''But what if Karbraxis decides that with the sleeve he and his fellows will no longer need you?''

Malice understood the trepidation of her lover, and had to admit that in this case, his cynicism was well placed. The gihox had been searching for a weapon to help them reclaim their place as the rulers of the earth. Malice had witnessed through Maya as Team Stax had foiled the plans of a gihox chieftain in the South Pacific, who was trying to find a relic known as the Fist of the Colossus, for that very end. At the moment, Malice was such a weapon, for she was what held the disparate and feuding tribes together. But if Karbraxis decided he had another weapon, then he might just lead his kin into a rebellion.

''Then I will teach him the truth,'' Malice stated. ''Not even the muscle of a gihox can match the killing power of Fanarloki.'' That said the dark spirit removed the sleeve, which reverted back to its previous disk form, and she put it away in her belt pouch.

After giving Zane a long goodbye kiss, Malice strode out of the building and fell into her monster x-drive, transforming into the shape of the dragon. Then she took wing, leaving the village far behind as she soared toward her other army, and the general leading it.

xxxxx

Ky dipped his spoon into his bowl of cereal, then brought it to his mouth, chewing but never thinking about the food. He was thinking about the assignment he and Boomer had been given by master Boddai earlier this morning. They were to go back to Ireland, and meet up with king Keiran McCann, that they might help him in the war with the gihox. But that was not the only thing they were supposed to do. Team Tuatha, the students of his father, were to accompany them on this quest.

Boomer sat in the chair opposite him, the distant look in his eyes indicating that he was similarly thinking of this latest quest. They had only met the members of Team Tuatha once before, in the meeting where the Redakai had decided Maya should confront her evil look-alike, and end her reign of terror once and for all. But they had heard a bit about them from their master and the other Redakai. They had also heard that master Baphamel had taken on apprentices of his own.

Suddenly, the door of the microwave burst open, spewing forth gouts of greenish ooze, and a putrid stench filled the air. Mookee rushed into the kitchen but stepped in the slime and fell on his back, then slid across the floor. Ky and Boomer, both holding their nose, looked at the tangerine-colored alien.

''Sorry,'' Mooke said, repeatedly trying to get back to his feet, but skidding on the slick and slimy floor again and again. ''I forgot to tell you that I was preparing a delicious breakfast treat, traditionally eaten on the planet Nevrod.'' He finally managed to stand, and scurried over to fetch a large bowl. Then the little alien began to scoop the greenish slime into the bowl, before placing it on the table, squarely in front of the two boys. ''This part of the recipe is always a little messy.''

As if by some prearranged signal there came a knock at the door, and the portal slid open to admit Francesco, the leader of Team Tuatha. He was a tall and lean fellow with hawkish features. He had sandy-blond hair, a neatly trimmed goatee, and his blue eyes exuded competence and confidence. How those eyes widened as he slipped on a puddle of slime Mookee had missed, and fell flat on his back.

Coming in behind him was Dusibol, a short but stocky man who provided the muscle power for the team. There was nothing soft about his physique, for he appeared as though he had been carved from stone, with his broad shoulders and huge, square jaw. He had dusky brown skin, his black hair curled up tightly on his head, and he had intelligent black eyes. He tripped over his leader and fell down hard on top of him, his two hundred pound frame blasting the air from his lungs.

Last to enter was an oriental woman by the name of Yu Lin, who was short in stature and slight of build. She was very pretty, with her round face and catlike features, and with midnight-black hair flowing across her shoulders and down her back. She did not trip over her friends. Instead, she dexterously sprang into the air, landing on top of Dusibol's broad back, drawing a wheeze from Francesco. She balanced there on the ball of one foot, arms out wide for balance, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.

Yu Lin hopped down from her perch and her two friends scrambled back to their feet, brushing themselves off.

''We were told to go with you to Ireland,'' said Francesco.

They talked together for several minutes while Ky and Boomer finished eating their breakfast, then the X-caper shot up into the air, bound for Ireland.

xxxxx

Karbraxis flexed his huge arm, staring as his muscles corded taut, and yet the sleeve Malice had just given him did not burst apart. The gihox general looked back at the tiny woman that was his mistress. Had his face not been so hideously scarred and disfigured, a questioning look would have been stamped upon it, for he did not know the purpose of the sleeve. He flexed his muscles tighter, again without tearing the sleeve. Then the ugly brute turned fully to the dark spirit.

''There be not a kairu attack in the world,'' Malice began in the gihox tongue, ''that can harm yerself while ye be wearing that sleeve.'' As if to accentuate her point, her arms shot out, and dark red flames spewed forth from her palms. The _shadow fire_ wreathed the behemoth, and while he appeared startled, the flames did not touch him. The fires swirled around him like a tornado, but then they dissipated, leaving the gihox chieftain unscathed.

''Ye can not harm me,'' Karbraxis snickered.

There came a green flash suddenly, and then the gihox was on his back, pinned to the ground by a massive, clawed foot. He struggled to break free, but the beast had little trouble in keeping him pinned under its weight. The gihox looked up to see the reptilian head come closer, one huge horn prodding the skin of his neck. ''Make no mistake about who is in charge here, Karbraxis,'' Malice thundered, and his eardrums nearly burst from the volume, beads of sweat forming on his brow. ''I do not need a kairu attack to kill you, and if you try to use the gift I gave you against me...'' The dragoness let the sentence drift off, and pressed her horn tighter against his throat.

Then there came another green flash, and the weight of the dragoness lifted from his chest, allowing him to move freely. Karbraxis rose to a sitting position, watching as Malice, in human form once more, strode away, black cloak trailing behind her. He rose stiffly to his feet, and watched as his mistress vanished in a flash of kairu. He seethed with hatred, and allowed himself the fantasy of grind her to death. But he dared not make it more than a fantasy, for the lesson had come across.

 **To be continued...**

Here is a song for a characters.

Karbraxis = **Praise Abort,** by Till Lindemann


	5. Chapter 4: The king

**Chapter 4**

Birgitte determinedly put one foot in front of the other as she made her way down the long and even-floored corridor. She could feel she was getting stronger, for only days before, she could barely have stood, let alone walked. She had managed to walk with the aid of Catherine the day before, but now she could do so without any external support at all. Well, that was not technically true, since she occasionally tapped the stone wall to keep her balance, but she was getting stronger all the same. The corners of her mouth crept upwards in a smile.

That smile vanished suddenly, as she felt a burning sensation in her chest, a feeling that fast blossomed into a blazing pain. She gave a choked gasp and grabbed at her chest, falling to her knees in the corridor, one hand raking down the wall. For what seemed like hours, the pain blazed through her, and she honestly feared she was about to die. But then the pain diminished. Slowly, ever so slowly the pain flowed out of her, leaving the young woman stunned and frightened.

A few minutes passed before Birgitte found the strength to get back to her feet, and she had to support herself on the wall as she walked. She did not remember having any heart diseases, but then again, her memory did not extend beyond this cavern, and its inhabitants. She neither met Catherine nor Roger, or anyone else for that matter, as she shakily made her way to her room.

Birgitte climbed back into bed, thoroughly exhausted, and soon fell asleep.

xxxxx

Kieran McCann watched as the X-caper alighted in the courtyard of Castle McCann, the wind generated by its propellers billowing his clothing behind him. A smile turned the corners of his mouth, and he stroked his golden beard, a new addition. He looked on with eagerness as the door slid open, as he anticipated seeing Maya again, the young woman who had stolen his heart. He had not seen her since Team Stax had helped him rid the castle of the animated lion statue that had chased him from his own home. Saying goodbye that last time had been one of the most difficult things the young king had ever done in his life, and could not wait to see the beautiful young woman again.

''Gentlemen,'' the young king exclaimed merrily, walking toward Ky and Boomer with arms out wide. ''It does my heart good to see you again in these troubled times. '' He turned to regard the three members of Team Tuatha. ''Any friend of Team Stax is a friend of mine. Welcome to my castle.'' Kieran turned back to Ky and Boomer, and his brow furrowed in confusion as he noted the door of the X-caper had closed, and the last member of Team Stax had not yet come out. ''Did Maya not make the journey with you?'' Kieran tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice. Ky and Boomer exchanged rueful glances. ''She is alright, is she not? Has she taken ill. Has she...''

''Maya has passed from this world, your highness,'' Boomer said softly. ''I am sorry.''

For a long moment Kieran just stood there, as the news settled its crushing weight onto his heart and pressed down, choking away the air. ''How...'' his voice was barely more than a whisper, all traces of his earlier mirth flown from him. ''What happened? How did she die?''

''Her arch enemy did her in,'' Boomer replied. ''That arch enemy is the leader of the gihox army that has invaded your lands.''

Kieran clenched his fists at his sides, his green eyes burning with grief at the loss of his love and rage at the individual responsible for her death. His scouts claimed the leader of the gihox lived in a great, black castle. The young king decided then and there that he would amass an army that would rival, or even surpass, the gihox host. He would march his army to the gates of the enemy leader, and tear the black fortress down around them.

''Come,'' Kieran said, gesturing for his friends to join him. ''I will have rooms prepared for you, and then we can plan our next move.''

xxxxx

Kieran walked into his private quarters several hours later, but he did not turn the lights on, preferring the darkness for his grieving. He walked to his bed and fell on top of it, staring up at the ceiling, feeling thoroughly wretched. Only then did he allow the tears that had been trying to break through to come forth, reducing his sight to a blurry haze. He closed his eyes, his grief swirling.

Then his eyes popped open and he rose into a sitting position, glancing about, for he could sense a presence in the room. He hurriedly got to his feet, figuring the enemy leader to have sent an assassin to slay him. The young king reached under his mattress, where he kept a dagger. The presence grew stronger, and a profound uneasiness settled in the pit of his stomach. He also had the feeling that he was being watched, though as far as he could tell, there was no one in the room except him.

A vision flashed through his mind then, a vision that showed him Maya in incredible detail, where she sat cross legged on her bed. The door to her room opened and Ky walked in, with Boomer following close behind. Maya turned to face them, and Boomer launched himself at her, wrapping is beefy arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides. Maya fought to break free, but Boomer was too strong.

Kieran could see Ky walk in front of her, drawing forth a long, curving knife with a wicked, serrated edge, and waggle it teasingly before the young woman. Her huge amber eyes widened in terror, and she fought desperately to break free of the hold, but Boomer held her fast. The young king cried out in horror then, as Ky plunged the knife into her belly, before tearing it free and stab her again, and again, and again, until Boomer finally let her go. Kieran fell to his knees as he saw Maya's body fall to the floor, blood pouring from her torn belly and forming a pool around her. Her amber colored eyes stared unseeing at her murderers, who stood above her, laughing wickedly.

The vision faded, but Kieran could not stand up right away, so shocked and pained was he by the betrayal and murder he had just witnessed. When first he and Maya had met, they had learned of each others ability to sense the kairu energy within his family chalice. He also knew that Maya had been able to see visions. And now he had just seen such a vision, and so he surmised he must have the same ability.

His expression went dark then, and he stood up and fetched a sword that hung on the wall above the fireplace. Then Kieran left the room, stalking down the corridors of his castle, determined to pay the traitors back for this atrocity. In his outrage, the young king forgot all about the strange presence in his room earlier. It never crossed his mind that the visions had been planted inside his mind by the creature that exuded that presence. By the spirit hovering invisible back in his room, nearly bursting with wicked glee.

 **To be continued...**


	6. Chapter 5: The fight

**Chapter 5**

Ky stared up at the ceiling over his bed as he thought about Maya, something he had done constantly ever since her untimely death. He closed his eyes and conjured up an image of her, though all that did was make his heart ache all the more for her loss. Still, he clung to that image, for strangely he would rather feel the pain than forget her and move on with his life. A single tear ran from his eye to be absorbed by his tousled black hair.

Suddenly there came a loud crash at the door, the portal bursting open, and Kieran stalked into the room. Ky sat up, thinking to ask what was going on, but then he noticed the sword the king clutched in a white knuckled grip, and he abandoned that line of thought altogether. The king charged at him with the sword raised high overhead. Ky threw himself out of the way, and the sword chopped down and through the bed.

''Kieran?'' Ky balked. ''What the hell are you doing?''

The king did not reply but extracted his sword and charged again, this time leading with a thrust. Ky slapped his hand against the flat of the blade, effectively turning it aside. That left him an excellent opening for a counter, but he did not capitalize on the advantage, for he did not really want to hurt Kieran. The enraged king was bound by no such compunction, however.

Kieran, rage boiling in his green eyes, came on again, slashing again and again but never hitting the nimble kairu warrior. At one point he grabbed the sword in both hands and swung across mightily. Ky glided backwards and out of reach of the blade, or so the thought, for the king had a trick up his sleeve. Kieran reversed his strength, halting the blade in mid swing, and stabbed straight ahead.

The blade would have skewered Ky, had he not fallen into his inner kairu, and with power wrought of desperation, he threw his inner kairu at Kieran, lifting him from his feet and slamming him hard against the ceiling. The impact blasted the air from the king's lungs, and the sword fell from his weakened fingers, clattering noisily on the floor. Ky did not let the king go but kept him pinned against the ceiling.

''Ky!'' Boomer cried, rushing into the room. ''Kieran? What are you guys doing?''

''He tried to kill me,'' Ky rasped.

''Kieran did?'' Boomer sounded skeptical, glancing up at the pinned king. ''This must be some sort of misunderstanding.''

''When my guards get here,'' Kieran said, ''you are both dead.''

Boomer nearly fell over, so surprised was he by the words.

''Why did you attack me?'' Ky demanded.

''To pay you back for what you did!'' the king roared back. ''To pay you back for killing Maya!''

Ky stared up at Kieran, and the king grunted as the pressure on him grew stronger, and the ceiling around him began to creak in protest. Boomer put a hand on Ky's shoulder, and the young Stax reined back on his temper. He loosened his grip on Kieran, though without letting him go.

''We did not kill Maya,'' Boomer said. ''Malice did that. We told you as much over dinner.''

''I saw you!'' Kieran shouted. ''In the vision I had. You grabbed her, and you stabbed her again and again with a knife until the life fled from her. I will see your heads mounted on my wall as retribution for what you did to her!''

''But that never happened,'' Boomer said. ''You sir, have had a nightmare.''

Ky flipped through his attack x-drives until he found the one he was looking for, then he pointed the device at Kieran. Using an attack on a non combatant was strictly against the rules, but desperate times called for desperate measures. And besides, he was not going to let a rule prevent him from setting things aright with Kieran. He called the man a friend, after all, and did not want their friendship to end in this way. But mostly, he did not want anyone to think that he had killed Maya.

''MIND WELD!'' Ky shouted, and he was enveloped by blue energy, and then a tendril of it moved to touch Kieran, similarly enveloping him. Ky closed his eyes, and the vision that had driven Kieran to assail him played out behind his closed eyes. He was indeed horrified by the spectacle, and did not blame the king from going into such a fit of rage. Ky opened his eyes and glanced up at Kieran.

''What you saw in that vision never happened,'' Ky said.

''Then explain my vision,'' Kieran said.

''I cannot explain why you saw what you did,'' Ky said. ''I can only tell you that what you saw did not happen.''

For a long time there was silence, with Kieran thinking about the vision, comparing the Ky and Boomer he had seen there with the Ky and Boomer he personally knew as his friends. He began to see the illusion for what it was. It was hard to erase the horrible images from his mind, but at last he managed to believe that Ky was telling the truth, and that he and Boomer were not the ones who had murdered Maya. He nodded, the tightness of anger flowing from his face, and Ky let him go.

The guards entered the room, laser rifles trained on Ky and Boomer, but Kieran motioned for them to lower their weapons. ''The slight was mine,'' he said to the guards. ''This unfortunate incident is to be forgotten, is that understood.'' The dumbfounded guards nodded. Kieran moved to the door, but paused and glanced back at Ky and Boomer. ''I am sorry.'' That said he moved out of the room and back to his own quarters.

xxxxx

Invisible to their physical eyes, the spirit of Malice hovered inside the room, watching the king depart. In truth she was not overly concerned, for she had only wanted to try and see if this would work. The spirit gave a shrug of her incorporeal shoulders and phased through the wall and into the night outside, but her spirit senses were not hindered by the darkness as were physical eyes. She moved through the courtyard, measuring the defenses of the fortress, before flying off toward her own physical body back in her fortress.

 **To be continued...**

 **I originally had several ideas for a Redakai story, and I could not decide which I wanted to write. On one hand I wanted to write a story where the villain was an evil version of Maya. On the other I wanted to write a Redakai fantasy story with a villain who had an army. And then I wanted to have a fight between Ky and Kieran. I wasn't able to choose which I wanted to write the most, so I just decided to blend them all together.  
**


	7. Chapter 6: Remembrance

**Chapter 6**

Birgitte opened her eyes one morning, and the first thought that greeted her was that her real name was Maya. She was delighted to find out what her real name was, of course, and she took great comfort in the fact that her memories were not lost to her forever. As Roger had said, they would return on their own, and in their own time. She told Catherine about it as they talked in the small cavern that served as the training ground for riflemen.

''Did any other memories come with it?'' Cat asked, as she aimed her laser rifle at a target shaped like a gihox, standing across from her. She pulled the trigger and a shot leaped from the barrel of the weapon. Cat was a good marksman, and the shot hit the target right in the area where its reproduction organs would be.

''I'm afraid not,'' Maya said. ''It only came to me this morning.''

Cat fired another shot, and this one hit the target in the spot between where its eyes would have been. She put up her rifle and turned to regard Maya, who sat on a makeshift bench near one wall, watching her rifle training. ''I read somewhere that one memory can trigger another,'' she said, turning back to the target, lining up a shot. ''Maybe if you think hard enough about your name, other memories related to it will appear.''

''I've tried,'' Maya said in a frustrated tone. ''It doesn't work.''

''Do you remember your name being called in some specific place?'' Catherine asked, pulling the trigger, and scorching a hole in the chest of the target. ''When you were being called to dinner, or berated for a prank you pulled?'' A mischievous smile crept across her freckled face as she once again turned to regard the blue haired woman, and her voice took on a dramatic flare. ''Or maybe you heard it shouted by a lover in the heat of passion.'' Catherine burst out laughing, for it was only a friendly joke.

Maya glared at her friend, though whatever intensity the glare might have held was lost, for her face was bright red, and in the end she laughed too.

''Anyway, do you want to try?'' Catherine said, offering the rifle to Maya.

Maya nodded and took the rifle, then pointed the gun at the target, one eye closed as her aim centered on the makeshift gihox. But she did not pull the trigger, for something within her recoiled at the thought of using the weapon. She held the rifle out to arms length, looking at it hard.

''Is something wrong?''

''I do not think I am supposed to use guns,'' Maya said.

''Another memory,'' Catherine said delightedly. ''Are you a pacifist then?''

Maya did not think so. She handed the rifle back to Catherine, but instead of sitting back down on the bench, she walked toward the target. She sized it up from several paces, falling deep within herself, allowing her instincts to take control. Then, to the disbelief of both herself and Catherine, she whirled in a circle kick, her foot connecting solidly on the hard wood, and a crack appeared in it.

Maya touched the crack running down its center, and thought about the image that had come into her mind the instant her foot had connected. For an instant she had been able to see her foot similarly connecting on the face of a guy with green skin and blue hair. She kicked straight out, and another image came to her. She saw herself kick a guy with a bloated, green arm in the groin, and the punch that followed brought the flash of herself punching a girl, this one an alien with golden tresses, in the stomach.

''You have to teach me to do that,'' Catherine gasped.

''I do not know how to do that,'' Maya said. ''I just do it.'' As if to accentuate her point she punched out, but this time she saw a mirror image of herself, except with purple eyes, turn the punch harmlessly aside. The thought of that mirror image sent a chill through her for some reason, and so she backed off.

''I almost pity the gihox foolish enough to pick a fight with you,'' Catherine said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Maya just smiled.

''Well, I have work to do,'' Catherine said, placing her rifle in a barrel by the wall. ''You should get some rest. You have not entirely recovered from your wound, and should not break any more training dummies today.'' With that, the orange haired woman offered a smile and left the chamber, leaving Maya behind with her thoughts and those few flashes of memory she had recovered.

xxxxx

Francesco stood in a fighting crouch across from Dusibol, who was in a similar stance, legs wide apart for balance, arms swaying and crossing. Francesco came on quickly, running several strides before launching himself into a flying kick. Dusibol sidestepped the attack and grabbed his friend out of the air, turning and throwing him across the courtyard.

Francesco managed to sort himself out enough to land in a roll, absorbing the impact and coming back to his feet in an instant. He glanced to the side to where Yu Lin stood, watching the sparring match with amusement. He brought his hand to his shoulder, to where she had given him a massive bruise in their last sparring match. Yu Lin might be small and seemingly fragile, but she was a very capable fighter, and while she lacked strength, her lightning fast strikes were precise, and she knew what nerve bundles to hit for maximum effect.

Francesco turned his attention back to Dusibol, and charged at him. He feigned a leap, but slid down instead, then snapped his legs together in a scissors grip.

But Dusibol was not caught flat-footed, and he leaped into a backward somersault that brought him clear of the attack. Francesco put his feet under him and launched at his opponent, but Dusibol grabbed him about the torso, heaved and twisted, bearing him to the ground, and putting him in a lock from which he could not escape.

Yu Lin burst out laughing as she watched Francesco try to squirm his way free of the lock without success. Then she noticed bluish-white light, and an astral projection of master Connor Stax hovered in the air before her. The projection was upside down, for the master was still learning how to properly project his form. The image vanished, then reappeared, this time not upside down. Francesco and Dusibol rushed over and offered a respectful bow to their mentor.

''Greetings,'' the master said. ''How are things going?''

''King McCann has sent soldiers out to help defend the towns,'' Yu Lin said in a slight accent. ''But sadly they are not fairing too well, and the gihox press ever deeper into the kingdom.''

''I see,'' Connor said, stroking his astrally projected chin. ''The Redakai have just reached the conclusion that they will be sending soldiers of the order to fight the gihox. Still, it will take some time to marshal our forces and send them to Ireland.''

''Then they might come too late,'' Dusibol said. ''The gihox advance with terrible speed, sacking town after town. Refugees stream to Castle McCann.''

''As much we have heard,'' Connor said. ''Master Baphamel has offered to go and train the refugees, that they might help in the effort of beating back the gihox.''

''Then we will surely win this war,'' Yu Lin said.

''Training takes time,'' Connor said. ''And right now, time is at a premium.''

The conversation ended a short while later with the astral projection vanishing, and Francesco went off to the sideline while Yu Lin and Dusibol sparred.

 **To be continued...**


	8. Chapter 7: The vision

**Chapter 7**

Maya stood in the middle of her small room, legs wide apart and slightly bent for balance, fists punching out straight repeatedly, left, right, left. She had recovered another memory when she woke up this morning. It was a memory of a far away monastery, and even now she was going through a standard martial arts routine she remembered from that place, and she had been doing the exercise for several hours without respite. Her bare face and arms glistened with perspiration, and there was a look of utter concentration on her face.

Suddenly a wave of nausea washed over her, pressing down on her like a physical weight, driving her to her knees. For a few seconds that seemed like hours she waited for the burn of a heart attack to bloom in her chest. But to her surprise and relief that pain never came, and instead she saw a montage of images flash through her mind. The images appeared and disappeared so quickly she could not garner any meaning from any of them, except from one.

Maya could see a small, rectangular device peaking out through a pile of snow, and with the image came a feeling she could not explain. For some reason she felt as though she needed to recover the device. The image vanished and the feeling along with it, and she was left sitting on her knees, eyes wide and panting. At the moment, she wondered more about source of this vision than about its contents.

Maya climbed back to her feet, but no sooner had she resumed her exercise when there came a tremendous crash from somewhere in the cave complex, and a massive tremor passed through the ground beneath her feet. For a few stunned seconds there was silence, and then the sounds of laser turrets firing could be heard, along with the throaty bellows of gihox, and what sounded to her like the barking of dogs. The battle cries of humans erupted from somewhere outside her room, and there came the sounds of many laser rifles firing.

Maya rushed to the door and entered the corridor beyond, where refugees were running back and forth. She ran in the direction where the sounds of fighting were coming from, along with several men and women carrying laser rifles. They rounded a bend, and there before them stood a gihox, its broad frame filling the corridor. The behemoth was carrying a club as long as Maya was tall, and it raised the dreadful weapon.

Then the gihox hesitated, all color fleeing from its craggy face as it looked upon her, though the reason for that escaped her at that time. The riflemen did not similarly pause, and they opened fire on the giant. The behemoth raised a huge hand in front of its face as it staggered back, the shots scorching its flesh. Then it raised its club in its other hand and rushed forward, the ground shaking beneath its charge. The riflemen concentrated their fire and soon enough the gihox slowed, then fell over, quite dead.

Maya and the riflemen with her entered another corridor, where they found a pair of riflemen, Cat one of them, firing on a charging gihox. The behemoth brought down its huge, wedge-shaped sword, splitting one of the riflemen down the middle, then it kicked out, knocking Cat to the floor. The orange-haired woman scrambled back as the sword went up, and spread her legs as it came chopping back down. The sword dug into the stone mere inches from her groin, then the gihox lifted its weapon again, grinning evilly.

Maya snatched up a broom propped up against the wall, then snapped its head off with a twitch of her leg. She hoisted the pole as though it were a javelin, lined up her target, and heaved with all her strength. The broom struck the gihox in the throat, and its sword clattered against the stone as it staggered back, gasping for breath.

Cat did not let the opportunity go to waste, and fired a searing bolt into the gihox, leaving a scorched ruin where its reproductive organs had been. The behemoth gave a choked cry and fell thrashing to the ground. Cat scrambled away from the dangerous thrashing limbs of the gihox. The other riflemen were quick to the spot, finishing the giant off, while Maya helped Cat back to her feet.

''Have you seen my father?''

''I'm afraid not,'' Maya replied, retrieving the broom.

''We've got to find him before he is killed,'' Cat said.

''Lead on.''

The two women moved swiftly down the corridor, ready but without fear in case a gihox leaped out in front of them. No enemies presented themselves, and they entered the largest chamber in the cave complex, and stopped dead in their tracks. The people there had gathered in a semicircle around the mouth of the tunnel that led into this chamber, where they fought desperately against the gihox that were pouring through. Fighting alongside the gihox were huge dogs of some species Maya did not recognize.

Each dog was about six feet at the shoulder, with a broad and thick body and stubby legs tipped with sharp claws. They had a huge head with a nose that appeared to have been squashed flat against their face, and their wide mouth was studded with huge fangs. Worst of all were their eyes, for they seemed to glow a bright green. They tore into the human ranks, rending people to shreds with their claws and fangs.

Cat spied her father where he was fighting a gihox, the large man sorely pressed as he parried wildly with a makeshift club. A low growl emanated from her chest and she went down on one knee, training her rifle on the gihox. The behemoth swung at her father, and she squeezed the trigger. The bolt struck the behemoth on its sword arm, and that arm was flung out wide, the sword swishing harmlessly above her father.

Roger did not let this turn of fate go to waste, and he swept his cudgel across down low, sweeping the legs out from under his enemy. Then he brought the weapon down hard on its chest, creasing its breastplate, but barely injuring the tough giant. His second swing was even harder, drawing a pained grunt from the behemoth. It reached for him, but he swung at the hand, smashing two of its fingers back over the knuckles. His last blow was delivered along with a furious snarl, and the cudgel caved in its chest.

Roger angrily kicked aside its limp leg, then rushed over to his daughter, wrapping her in a tight hug. Around them, the initial surprise of the attack was starting to wear off, and the humans were forming into groups of three. Each group found itself a gihox or one of the dogs, and worked with precision and fury to bring them down. Step by step, the invaders were driven back toward the entrance.

Several riflemen concentrated their fire on a section of ceiling above the entrance, and before long there came a deafening crash, as large and heavy stones fell down. Several gihox and a couple of dogs were crushed to death, and the invaders already inside turned to regard the way they had come in. The exit was completely blocked by rubble, and the gihox and dogs trapped inside were quickly overwhelmed and slaughtered. But the barricade would not last, for already the pile of rubble was starting to shift as the gihox tried to break their way through.

''We cannot hope to survive a second assault!'' Roger shouted, eyeing the scores of human corpses that had already piled up inside the chamber. ''We must head deeper into the caverns, and evacuate through the back exit!''

''But the gihox will just break through and catch up to us,'' said one man.

''Then I'll stay behind to slow them down,'' said another man. ''They've already killed my wife, son and two daughters. I've got nothing left to live for, except preventing the bastards from having the satisfaction of claiming more lives.'' A few dozen other men and women stepped forward to volunteer to fight by his side. Maya knew from their haggard faces and grieving eyes that they too had lost everything.

''Your sacrifice will not be in vain,'' Roger said. ''Fight well, and die well!''

The pile of rubble shifted again, and a large stone rolled down from atop the pile. The throaty voices of gihox and the barks of dogs could be heard on the other side. Roger and the humans who would be making for the back exit rushed off. As they entered the tunnel complex beyond the large chamber they heard a tremendous crash, and the defiant cries of the humans who had stayed erupted, followed by the booming voices of gihox and the barking of the enormous dogs.

The troupe moved through the tunnel complex, sweeping up what provisions they could carry as they did. Maya spotted something from the corner of her eye then, and she turned to look down a side passage. There lay the corpse of a gihox, and beside it were the much smaller corpses of two men. Maya discarded her broom and grabbed up the quarterstaff one of the human corpses had been clutching. It was well crafted, and made mostly of wood, but was reinforced with metal banding, platinum by the look of it. She hefted the weapon, then caught up to the rest of the troupe, and continued her flight along the tunnels.

Behind them, the sounds of battle had dwindled to nothing, to be replaced by the sounds of pursuit, the thunder of stomping gihox feet. Worse yet was the baying of the dogs, and judging by the sound they were getting closer by the minute. The humans quickly became increasingly unsure of which path to take at which fork in the tunnel, for only a few had ever been to the tunnels this deep in the complex. Still, they did not slow, knowing that to do so meant getting caught and slaughtered, and so they just guessed at each fork.

Before long they felt a slight breeze coming down a tunnel that was different from all the others, for it was more unstable, and braced by wooden beams. They moved along at a brisk pace, until they came upon a makeshift door. The portal was small, too small to admit a gihox, though large enough to accommodate one of the dogs. A man threw open the door and ushered the others past him and into the daylight outside. Charging along the tunnel came the dogs, all sinewy, packed muscle and brown and black fur.

Cat and the other riflemen stood in the doorway and trained their guns on the beams supporting the ceiling, and opened fire. The dogs charged on, fangs bared and running with drool, glowing green eyes intent on the escaping humans. but then parts of the ceiling gave way and came crashing down. The noise made by the cave-in was deafening, drowning out the whimpers of the dogs, and a huge cloud of dust exploded out the door, covering the riflemen and many others in a layer of light gray.

Then there was silence, apart from the wind weaving in and out of the scraggly trees and boulders dotting the valley where they now stood.

''Where do we go now?'' Cat broke the silence a few moments later.

''Castle McCann is only a few days away,'' Roger said, frowning thoughtfully. ''We might be able to find help there.'' The name of the castle struck Maya as strangely familiar, though she could not put her finger on just where she had heard it before. People were nodding and murmuring amongst themselves, and shortly thereafter it was decided they would go to the castle. But Maya was not thinking about the castle, but about the vision she had had earlier, and the image of the device sticking from the drift of snow. She had felt as though she needed to find that device, or all would be lost.

''I'll not be coming with you,'' Maya declared at length.

''What?'' Cat balked.

''I've got to go back to where you found me,'' the blue haired woman explained. ''There is something there I must retrieve.''

''You've recovered another piece of your memory then,'' Cat stated more than asked.

''Going there is madness!'' Roger accused.

''Be that as it may, I have to go,'' Maya said resolutely, for she could not ignore the sense of urgency in her vision.

''Then I'll go with you,'' Cat stated.

''Cat, what foolishness is this?'' Roger balked.

''You should go with your father,'' Maya said.

''I'm coming with you,'' the fire-haired woman said firmly.

''You know what's out there!'' Roger practically screamed.

''I'm not going to argue with you, father.''

Roger stared at his daughter, at the stubborn set of her jaw, and the simmering fires in her green eyes, and at that moment she looked just like her mother had when she had set her mind on something. He realized he could not dissuade his daughter from going on this foolish journey, and so he decided to try a different tactic. Instead of digging in his heels and try holding back a landslide, he decided to try to guide it instead. ''Then I'm going with you,'' he stated.

 **To be continued...**

 **Here is another song for a character**

 **Catherine = Derniére Danse,** by Indila.


	9. Chapter 8: The stone

**Chapter 8**

The room was large and rectangular in shape, with walls formed from obsidian and polished to mirror smoothness. Centering the wall opposite the door was a large hearth, now burning brightly, the light reflecting off the walls in a flickering glow, and the floor was covered by a huge red carpet, and a trail of discarded clothing lay strewn across from the door, and all the way to the large double bed, which was shaking vehemently. Moans, slowly increasing in tempo, reverberated in a rhythm from the polished walls, and would surely have been audible to the gihox guards posted outside, had not a trick of kairu been used to keep the sounds contained to this one chamber.

Zane grasped the headboard of the bed with both arms, Malice desperately urging him on with her heels. She had teleported into the town he and his gihox army had overrun, and teleported him back to the fortress, claiming a most urgent business. But when he had arrived, he had discovered that the important business was of an entirely different sort than what he had expected. Not that he was complaining, for he and Malice had not made love since before the beginning of the march. They had both been getting desperately randy as a result, and were now being quite energetic.

Zane glanced down at Malice and could see from her expression that she was nearly there. Her moans became choked off, becoming a quivering groan, and he felt her muscles contract. A funny expression found its way onto her face, and then she seemed to relax, settling back into the mattress. Her face was contented as she patiently waited for him to finish up.

Zane rolled off Malice and onto his back a short while later, thoroughly spent. He draped an arm across her shoulders and pulled her tight, lamenting that he would have to return to the gihox camp soon.

Malice suddenly tensed beside him, and he noticed that she was clutching her chest, a look of the purest agony splayed across her face. Zane sat bolt upright as the truth of what was happening registered fully. He threw back the comforter and rolled to his knees, flexing his arms as he went over in his mind what he needed to do. But as he was about to give her first aid, the tension seemed to flow out of her, though it seemed to take hours. She looked up at him, her face glistening with sweat, her breathing ragged.

''Are you alright?'' Zane asked.

''I'll be fine,'' Malice replied hoarsely.

''That looked like a heart attack.''

''I've been meaning to tell you,'' Malice said. ''I had an incident like this some time ago, just after our armies began their march. I've been searching for some imperfection that could cause it, but so far I've found nothing that could explain this.'' Her face became really tight, and anger flashed behind her eyes. ''As you know, I have the Cataclysm Stone in my possession, as it was shown to me in a vision right after that first incident. I think I can somehow use it in order to cure whatever ailment has me in its grip.''

''This ailment,'' Zane began, ''could it be caused by _psychic fracture_ , the attack that split you and Maya into two separate entities?''

Malice stared at Zane, eyes wide as though she had not expected this kind of deep thinking from him. She smiled and patted him on the cheek, then rolled to her feet and walked over to the shelf where she kept her kairu tomes. She pulled a book from the shelf, then sat on the edge of the bed.

Malice found the page where the attack she had used was described in great detail, then started to read. Zane glanced over her shoulder at the text, but it was written in the ancient language of kairu, and he could not make any sense of it. The minutes slipped past slowly, but eventually there came a change over her face. With a snarl, she hurled the book across the room, missing the fireplace by inches. ''But I killed her already,'' Malice roared, springing to her feet and pacing furiously about the room.

''What is it?'' Zane asked.

''It is said that as long as me and Maya remain apart, our bodies will be unstable, and will eventually stop functioning. There are two ways to prevent this, the first being for me and Maya to merge into a single corporeal body again, via _psychic fracture_.'' Malice spat into the fireplace as she passed by. ''The other way is for one of us to die, at which point the corpse would dissolve into energy, and be absorbed by the survivor. Then we would be complete and stable again. But I already killed Maya, and I certainly did not absorb any form of energy afterwards.''

''Then the book must be wrong.''

''Perhaps,'' Malice said, knuckling her brow and taking deep breaths to try and calm herself, though with somewhat limited success. ''I'll have to find a way to use the stone to counter the effects of this ailment. I would rather not be remembered as the conqueror whose ambitions were foiled because she died of a heart attack.''

''I can help you,'' Zane offered.

''My beloved,'' Malice said with a forced smile. ''Your place is with the army, for without you as a constant reminder of our power, the gihox might stop fearing us. And if they don't fear us, they might very well turn against us. Karbraxis will not betray me, for he knows that if he does, then I'll roast the flesh from his bones. But I do not trust our other soldiers further than Fanarloki could throw them.''

Zane nodded, the logic irrefutable.

xxxxx

Malice reappeared in her room a short while later, after having teleported Zane back to the gihox encampment. She walked over to a safe and dialed in the correct pass code, then retrieved from it the light bluish orb that was the Cataclysm Stone. She handled it for a few long moments, marveling that this smooth rock was a piece of debris from the planet of Nevrod, which Lokar had destroyed all those years ago. She laid the stone on the floor and sat down cross-legged before it.

Her eyes started to glow a furious purple, and she channeled her inner kairu into the stone, and the ice coating it melted away, forming a puddle around it. No sooner had the ice melted when the dark spirit felt the stone activate. She could feel the tug at her inner kairu as the stone tried to suck it out of her. Malice stroked her chin as she pondered how she might use the stone in order to defeat her ailment. Could it be that if she absorbed a great enough amount kairu from the stone, she could defeat her ailment?

Malice closed her eyes, falling deep within herself and achieving that state of perfect calm and the deepest meditation. Then she did something she had never attempted before, detaching a small piece of her spirit and sending it into the stone, much as Lokar had done when he had created the shadow kairu. Using that piece of her spirit, she wrought changes in the stone, making it so it would only drain the energy from the land around her, and not from herself or her gihox minions.

Malice came out of her trance, even as the landscape around the fortress started to wilt and die, becoming gray and dark.

 **To be continued...**


	10. Chapter 9: The device

**Chapter 9**

Maya tucked her quarterstaff under her arm and rubbed her hands together briskly, trying to get some warmth into them. The sky was gray and leaden, the sun hidden behind a gloomy bank of clouds, and the cold wind blew incessantly, forcing her to squint. She and her two companions were walking along the floor of a deep valley, and the landscape was as gloomy as the sky, all gray stone and yellow grass, and a river ran its middle.

Cat walked beside her, her trusty laser rifle holstered on her back, flame colored hair blowing out behind her. Roger led the way, for he had come upon her where she lay dying in the snow, and only he knew the way to their destination. Like his daughter, he had a laser rifle strapped to his back, and he carried a thick cudgel in his belt. His eyes darted all about, as though he expected a horde of gihox to come charging down at them at any moment.

''What is it exactly you're looking to find?'' Cat asked.

''I'm not entirely sure,'' Maya replied. ''But whatever it is, I've got to find it. How much further?''

''We're nearly there,'' Roger replied.

The cold wind continued to blow in their faces as they walked, making Maya wish she were wearing something warmer. Most of her current clothing she had borrowed from Cat, for the tank top and pants she had been found in were completely ruined. Her red t-shirt and blue jeans were a bit too big for her, as her friend was a bit bigger than she. She wore a short, brown jacket, trimmed in white fur, and her brown, fur trimmed boots were the ones she had been found in.

According to her rescuers, she had been wearing a device on her wrist where she lay in the snow, but it had been smashed to the point where it would have been impractical to try and have it repaired. She still wore the necklace she had been found in, as well as the white belt that now slanted across her waist. She fingered the belt buckle absently, as she tried to remember what it meant. It had to be connected to the monastery she had remembered earlier, where she had been trained in the martial arts.

Suddenly she got the feeling she was being watched, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. She stopped in her tracks, hands tightening around the haft of her quarterstaff as she glanced all about, half expecting a gihox scout patrol or some of those massive dogs to have spotted them. Her companions took their laser rifles from their backs and glanced about.

Maya caught a flicker of movement at the edge of her vision, and turned just in time to see something tall and wiry burst from the river. Water sprayed her, but she paid it no heed, for the thing swung a thin arm, droplets of water flying from its extended claws. She dropped to one knee as the claws flew above her head. Then her staff shot up, connecting solidly under its chin, sending it staggering back, gasping for breath that would hardly come. Her two companions opened fire simultaneously, dropping the creature to the riverbank.

''What the hell was that thing?'' Cat asked.

Roger approached the creature carefully, poking it with the barrel of his rifle to make sure that it was truly dead. It was just over eight feet tall but was thin for its height, and with a short torso, making it seem to be mostly arms and legs. Its face was somewhat reminiscent of that of a gihox, except with a lipless mouth, studded with fangs that were angled inward, like those of a shark, and tiny, perfectly round eyes that shone like black pearls. Its skin was a pale blue color, making for an ideal camouflage in the water.

''It must be a waterborne cousin of the gihox,'' Roger surmised.

Maya opened her mouth to speak, but noticed more than a dozen dark forms out on the water, approaching the riverbank. She looked from her staff to the laser rifles carried by her two companions, and sighed in dismay. She knew that however valiant they would be, they could not hope to defeat such an overwhelming force. ''We have to get out of here,'' she said, and then they were off and running.

Maya sped across the valley floor, frequently glancing over her shoulder to see the lanky, lurching forms in close pursuit. Her companions fired their laser rifles from time to time, but never got a clear enough shot to do any real damage. The creatures, with their longer legs, were gaining ground on the humans.

''We're nearly to the spot where you wanted to go,'' Roger said. ''I know it's a bit far fetched, but maybe this device of yours is a weapon.''

They cut between two cliffs and crossed into another valley, and after a short while they came to a spot at the base of a mountain. And there in the grass lay the device she had been looking for. It was shaped more than anything else like a cellphone, and it even sported a touching screen. Maya snatched it off the ground, and for some reason she felt more powerful. Their pursuers formed a semicircle around them, black eyes staring at their prey intently.

A creature rushed in at Roger with a grating snarl, clawed fingers raking through the air and seeking his face. The big man bellowed a curse and raised his laser rifle up in front of him to block the incoming attack. The firearm became useless in his hands as the claws cut into it, but it was enough to save his life. He grabbed what remained of the rifle in both hands and swung it like a club, knocking the creature to the ground. Then he fell upon it with another swing, ending its miserable life.

Cat put a bolt between the eyes of one creature, then shot a second in the belly, and it dropped to the ground, squirming in agony. Several more fell before her, but then she had to reload the weapon, and the creatures wasted no time in exploiting that. She winced as a particularly large creature charged at her. She fumbled with the magazine, and eventually got it in the slot, but it was too late, the creature was already upon her. With a victorious snarl the thing brought its hand down, claws slashing.

''Catherine!'' Roger cried.

Suddenly a powerful gust of wind blasted the creature from its feet and hurled it back into the ranks of waiting monsters. Several creatures were ploughed over by the impact, and for a few stunned seconds there was silence, except for the incessant wind. The creature got back to its feet and advanced, although more cautiously this time. Cat glanced over her shoulder to where the wind had come from, to where Maya was standing.

Maya stepped out in front to face the creatures, the device clutched in one hand, the other extended out toward the monsters. A raging torrent of water spewed forth from her palm, sweeping the creatures from their feet and swirling into a ball of water. Within the ball the creatures could be seen, thrashing futilely as they tried to swim. Then a bolt of red lightning streaked down from on high, striking the ball, and with a blinding flash it fell apart, leaving the creatures lying strewn about the valley floor, groaning and twitching.

''You've got some explaining to do,'' Cat said.

 **To be continued…**

 **Gihox:** Deshi Basara, by **Hans Zimmer**


	11. Chapter 10: Hope

**Chapter 10**

Zair lay on her cot in the cave that had previously served as the hideout of Team Radikor, back when they were still a team. She had one arm flung across her eyes, as she thought about how dull life had become after the defeat of Lokar, and the subsequent defection of her brother over to Malice. The last months had been filled with nothing but misery, as she and Techris had tried to find a new purpose in life. They had tried doing several things to carve out an existence, but had failed each time, which had often ended with them on bars and pubs, drinking their sorrows away.

She would never forgive her brother for turning his back on her and Techris, the friends who had been by his side whenever he needed it most. Had it not been she and Techris who supported him when he was trying to take over the world after the dark master was defeated the first time? Sure, they had not liked serving him all that much, but they had not left him, as they could surely have done. And had it not been they who saved him from dying cold and alone in his exile, after Lokar returned to power? Zane had always had a strange memory, forgetting favors and remembering grudges.

Zair propped herself up on one elbow and stared out of the cave, at the snow that swirled about in the steadily mounting wind. Techris had gone out in search of firewood twenty minutes ago, and he should have returned by now. She waited a bit, but he did not return, and she started to get a little uneasy. The thing with Icelandic weather was that it was wildly unpredictable, and could change very quickly. There had been very little wind half an hour ago, but now it seemed that a storm was brewing, and her friend might well be trapped somewhere out in it.

''I might as well check on him,'' Zair muttered, fetching her coat.

She exited the cave and struck out in the direction where she knew Techris would have gone to find firewood. Zair could barely see with all the snow flashing before her eyes, but she pressed on regardless, until she came upon a forest of short pine trees. She could not help but feel a little foolish then, for it was possible that Techris was already back at the cave, wondering where she had run off to. But then she just shrugged, and started calling out for her friend, though her voice was mostly drowned out by the storm.

Zair tripped over a rock or root that had been covered by the snow, and fell flat on her face. Feeling the burning cold about her cheeks and nose, she cursed and dusted herself off, but then she glanced at what she had tripped over and saw that it was neither a root nor a rock. It was a leg shod in a very familiar looking boot, partially uncovered by her stumble.

Zair cursed again and started digging in the snow, and she did not stop even when her fingers had gone completely numb from the cold. Before long she had uncovered her friend enough so that she could see the truth of his predicament. He had apparently been chopping down a tree, but it had fallen on top of him, knocking him unconscious. And now he was pinned beneath its weight.

Zair felt deep within herself until she found her inner kairu, and then she channeled it out into the world about her. She had never been anything exceptional with her inner kairu, but she still believed herself strong enough to lift the tree. The tree started to glow faintly, and then it shifted and lifted into the air. She released it a few steps to the right, and then she went to see if her friend was alright. He was thankfully still breathing, but unconscious, and not to mention dangerously cold.

''You'll be the death of me,'' Zair muttered without conviction, and then she started to haul him back toward the cave.

Once they were back in their hideout and out of the blowing storm, she leaned over and removed his visor, for the cold metal would only make things worse. He had told her many years ago that on his planet such pieces were worn for the sake of propriety. There, a person without a visor was scoffed at as harshly as a human on earth, if they were parading about in public with no clothes on. She put the visor off to the side, then fetched several blankets and spare clothes, and piled it all in a heap on top of him.

Zair wished she had brought some kindling that she might start a fire, but since she had not she did the only thing she could. Grumbling without conviction, she slipped beneath the pile of blankets and clothes, sharing her warmth. It was only then that she realized how exhausted she was, and she allowed her fatigue to overcome her. She strained out of thought, and before long she was fast asleep.

Zair awoke some time later to realize that Techris had returned to consciousness, though he was still weak from his ordeal. He glanced about for his visor, and she saw his eyes for the first time. They were a steel gray color, and there was a confused tightness around them as he looked for his equipment. He finally spotted the visor, and promptly replaced it on his head, seeming a bit more comfortable. She scrambled out from under the pile and to her feet, straightening the lapels of her jacket.

''How are you feeling?'' Zair asked.

''Terrible,'' Techris replied.

''And well you should,'' Zair snapped. ''You should have been more careful than to allow yourself to get caught by a falling tree and knocked unconscious! You would have died out in the storm had I not come and hauled you back to the cave! You are a kairu warrior, for crying out loud, and you should be able to cut down a tree without getting yourself killed, leaving me alone in this damned world!'' She realized she had been shouting, and more than that, she was trembling, with tears rimming her green-gold eyes.

Zair came to the realization that if she had lost Techris, she would probably not have survived. That made her reconsider her earlier pessimism, and wonder for the first time whether it might have been unfounded. She had viewed the defection of her brother over to Malice as a betrayal, put now she was able to put his departure in a different perspective. Perhaps it was for the better that he was gone, for now she could move on with her life. She also found herself examining her feelings toward Techris more honestly, and though she did not think she loved him, she felt she could grow to do so over time.

For the first time in a long while, Zair felt hope.

 **To be continued…**

 **I felt the two of them needed some sort of closure.**


	12. Chapter 11: The Battle of Castle McCann

**Chapter 11**

Kieran watched from atop the battlements of his castle as the black forms of the gihox moved within the evening mist across the moat. He took great pains not to show any of the anxiety he was feeling, for he was the king, and could not afford such luxuries as fear. The men lining the long parapets around him looked to him for courage and guidance, and they had to feel as if he were invincible, immune to defeat. It was easier said than done not to let his fear show, for this would be his first time presiding over a battle.

Kieran glanced over his shoulder at the catapult crews down in the courtyard, and wondered if the war machines would even make a dent in the invading army before their supply of ammunition would run out. He refrained from shaking his head, and gave a particularly nervous man operating a catapult a reassuring smile. He then turned his attention back to the gathered army across the moat. He could barely suppress a chill as he counted the war machines the enemy had brought to lay waste to his castle.

Kieran reached up to finger the crown atop his brow, as if to remind himself of the responsibilities he had toward his people. It was a heavy responsibility, one that threatened to crush him beneath its weight. Still he took comfort in knowing that he had capable and competent friends serving as his commanders and advisers. Ky and Boomer were each in charge of a squad of soldiers, and Team Tuatha helped the catapult crews. Baphamel commanded his own squad of refugees who had done exceptionally well in the fighting arts training he had given them.

Kieran had received a message a few hours earlier, where he had been informed that a friendly army had come to Ireland to help fight the gihox. The army was under the control of the Redakai, and was supposedly only used in the most dire of times. The Redakai were a peaceful order, after all. But still, the news had given him fleeting comfort, for mere minutes later he had received the news that the evil giants were nearly on his doorstep. The army of the Redakai would never be able to get to the castle in time.

Kieran watched as two figures stepped forth from the gihox ranks, and the young king held binoculars up before his eyes, studying them. One was a gihox, the largest and ugliest of the large and ugly creatures he had ever seen in his life. Its face was a disfigured mass of white scar tissue that reached from hairline to neck, and on its arm it wore a dark blue sleeve of some sort. The other was half the height of his gihox counterpart, with green skin, and blue hair that was slicked back to reveal a face sporting an eye-patch. The generals of the gihox army.

Kieran heard the shuffle of feet and turned to regard a soldier loping toward him. ''The secret underwater tunnel leading into the castle has been collapsed as you ordered, your majesty,'' the soldier dropped a slight bow with fist to heart. He straightened, and straightened the helmet on his head. ''The gates there have been closed and barred, and guards have been posted there in case the gihox are craftier than we believe.'' The young king thanked the man and ordered him to take his place on the parapet.

Karbraxis drew his huge sword from his back and Zane performed a gesture that made the thick blade catch fire. Kieran understood that the battle was about to begin, and he ordered his soldiers to brace themselves. The gihox general waved his flaming sword above his head, and the catapults and ballistae behind him opened fire. Great stones and spears longer than a gihox was tall were hurled at the castle. Most of the missiles struck the walls and did some damage to them, but others hit soldiers, crushing bone and tearing flesh.

''Loose the catapults,'' the king waved his own sword, and the sky was filled with purple balls of energy that crashed into the gihox throng. Again and again the catapults fired, killing many giants, but their ranks remained deep and seemed undiminished. And all the while, the gihox war engines pelted the walls and parapets. The ground shook beneath the sheer fury of the exchange, many died and more were wounded.

xxxxx

Zane stood off to the side of the battle, watching the projectiles soar back and forth through the air, cracking stone and ending lives. He reminded himself that he had a job to do, and so he took up his x-reader and flipped through his attacks. The one eyed general selected the one he needed, and then he grasped the air with his free hand. ''MAGMA MACE!'' he roared, a mace of red magma, mottled with black appearing in his waiting grasp. Laughing maniacally, he pointed the weapon at the moat, and lava spewed forth from it.

The water boiled and hissed in protest and a huge cloud of steam rose into the air, reducing visibility to nothing. But that was not the purpose of this move, for leading through the cloud of steam and all the way to the gates was a bridge of cooling magma. Zane rushed off then, for he needed to create several more walkways for his troops.

xxxxx

Ky swore under his breath as he watched a line of gihox strike out across the bridge, moving slowly but steadily through the cloud of steam. He heard Kieran issue a command and the riflemen all along the walls concentrated their fire on the advancing gihox. But the shots were repelled by their broad shields, which overlapped on top and on the sides to form what seemed to be an enormous, armored slug. The column reached the gates and the shields in front were pulled back to admit a crew of gihox holding a battering ram.

''Brace the gate,'' the king shouted, and men rushed to do just that. Off to the side there came the sound of more magma hitting water, and another cloud of steam rose into the air. He saw gihox with huge ladders rush across the cooling walkway toward a less heavily defended section of the wall, and Baphamel and his soldiers rushed to take care of it. Ky noticed that the gihox across the moat were assembling boats on the bank.

Ky spotted the gihox general where it was bellowing commands in its stony voice, and he felt anger welling up inside of him. He crouched behind a tooth in the battlement and flipped through his x-drives, then selected the appropriate attack. He rose and extended his arm out toward the behemoth. ''PLASMA ENERGY BLAST!'' he roared through the din of the battle, and a line of orange energy engulfed the disfigured general. The young man gave a grim smile, thinking that he had done it.

The attack should have taken the gihox down, but when the orange energy dissipated a few moments later, he saw the truth of it. Karbraxis stood firm on the smoldering ground, his dark blue sleeve glowing slightly. The other gihox pushed each other back in an effort to keep away from where the attack had landed. The ugly general grabbed a spear from one of his underlings and heaved it across the moat, straight at the young Stax.

Ky desperately threw up a protective barrier of his inner kairu, and the spear banged off its surface. It was enough to save his life, but the impact was still strong enough to shatter the barrier, and throw him down from the parapet. He landed heavily on his back in the courtyard, and all the air was blasted from his lungs, leaving him gasping. He rolled over onto his stomach and rose to his knees. The three members of Team Tuatha rushed over to give him a hand.

xxxxx

Baphamel watched the refugees he had trained in the fighting arts with pride, as they fought the gihox coming up the ladders and over the wall. They were doing well for people who had had very little time to train, working together to fell one behemoth after the other. One by one the ladders were pushed out from the wall, and those gihox who got over the wall found no lasting hold.

A gihox reared its ugly head over the top of a ladder and gained the parapet, thick cudgel swinging at the ready. It charged at Baphamel, no doubt thinking that this man, short even by the low standards of humans, and unarmed, whereas many of the other humans were using quarterstaves, would be an easy kill. The master charged to meet the gihox, but then reversed his momentum and jumped back as the heavy cudgel chopped down. The weight of the weapon forced the gihox to bend over, bringing its head dangerously close to the dangerous kairu master.

Baphamel set himself firmly and launched into a spinning circle kick that caught the gihox square in the face. The behemoth roared and stumbled back on its heel, blood dripping from the crushed socket of one eye. The master gritted his teeth and leaped at the gihox, crashing into its chest. The overbalanced creature toppled over the teeth in the battlement and crashed down on its companion coming up the ladder, taking them both down to the ground. The ladder fell away and into the milling throng below.

Baphamel leaped onto the battlement, and sprang into the air in a trajectory that would land him in the middle of the gihox. The behemoths glanced up but thought little of him, probably believing him to have been thrown over by one of their own. That was their mistake, for he extended his arms, and dozens of _slime grenades_ shot from him. The bombs detonated, sending several gihox flying away to splash into the moat. The master landed and charged the closest behemoth, felling it in short order, then moving on to the next.

Baphamel dropped one gihox to the ground and glanced about, looking for another target to beat up. When he saw that the gihox were backing away from him and forming into groups he decided the jig was up, and turned for the wall, thinking to jet jump up onto the parapet and join his squad once more. He stopped dead in his tracks though, as he heard a call from behind, and turned to regard Zane, the one eyed general loping toward him with a wicked grin plastered across his face.

''Nobody touch him,'' Zane said as he moved to the front of the gihox throng. ''He's mine, and anyone who interferes will answer to me. Understood?'' He turned his attention fully on the newly appointed Redakai master, his single, dark eye burning with hate. ''I'm going to make you pay for humiliating me back at the tournament.'' He pressed his knuckles together and dropped into the customary bow, glare never leaving Baphamel. ''I challenge you to a kairu battle.''

Baphamel felt his mouth stretch into a wolfish smile as he reciprocated the bow, and the sky above them started to churn. Blue lightning flashed and thunder rolled, further adding to the titanic atmosphere of the battle. The wind picked up, tugging at their clothing and making the water of the moat splash against the walkway. They both assumed fighting stances.

''MANAGARM!'' Zane was enveloped by yellow energy and when it dissipated he was in the guise of his signature monster. His claws dug grooves in the stone of the walkway, and the wind grabbed at his shaggy coat of black fur. He reared his monstrous, lupine head back and let out a howl that carried across the battle, and then he turned his one eyed stare on his opponent, his red eye glowing eagerly as if with the flames of hell itself. ''I am going to tear you apart,'' the wolf said in a horrible, grating voice.

''You will try,'' Baphamel said under his breath.

Zane slowly shifted his weight from his rear left foot to his rear right, and Baphamel recognized his opponent to be readying for a leap. The kairu master grasped at the air and a flaming sword appeared in his hand. Then with a snarl the wolf leaped in at him, muzzle split open and trailing drool, claws extended. Baphamel spun to the side, slashing at the wolf as he came around, the fiery blade barely missing a foreleg. The wolf skidded across the ground as he landed, claws tearing up the stone, sparks flying. He leaped away as the fiery sword came flashing back across.

Zane pivoted as he landed and launched himself back at the kairu master, catching the blade of the sword in his teeth and yanking it from his grasp. The wolf spit it out, wisps of smoke wafting from the corners of his mouth. The wolf was clearly burned and in pain, though that only made him appear more menacing, red eye twitching madly. Baphamel did not show any sign of fear, but set himself firmly on the ground in preparation for the fearsome charge he knew was coming.

''ENERGY WHIPLASH!'' Baphamel shouted, darting to the side as Zane sprang at him, and pulled at the conjured energy rope. The cord had become partially tangled around the feet of the wolf, and when the beast sprang again, the kairu master just spun out of the clench and gave another tug, further trapping the wolf. The creature toppled over and to the ground, writhing with his legs bound together. The wolf strained against his bindings, but they held him fast, which made him fight against them even harder. Then the energy cord flickered and broke apart, the general rising to his feet.

Baphamel backed away from his opponent, moving slowly as to not provoke the creature with a sudden movement. He felt the stone of the wall press against his back, and he set himself firmly, using his inner kairu to strengthen his body. Zane sprang at him, claws extended and soaring for his throat. But the kairu master had planned for him to do that, and so he extended his own hands and waited for the right moment to strike. ''JET JUMP!'' he shouted, and green energy burst from his palms with tremendous force, pinning him painfully against the wall, but hurling the wolf back into the gihox.

Baphamel turned his arms down to hurl himself into the air, flipping nimbly up onto the parapet, and surveying the milling throng below. Zane scrambled back to his feet and snapped his gaze up to meet that of his enemy. ''SNIPER SIGHT!'' the kairu master shouted, and a thin, green beam shot from his hand. The wolf leaped aside, the beam tearing up the ground where he had been standing. Several more beams followed, but the wolf managed to dodge each one.

Zane issued a low growl with his fangs bared, and then his powerful legs twitched, carrying him in a great leap that brought him halfway up the wall. He dug his claws into the stone and gained a firm hold, then leaped up the rest of the way to the parapet. Baphamel narrowed his eyes and channeled his inner kairu into his arm. He gave a snarl of his own, then struck the wolf hard on the skull, right between the eyes. There came a bright flash of bluish-white light, but the wolf was not knocked back down from the wall.

Baphamel was not able to completely dodge as the wolf soared over the parapet, and the creature crashed into his shoulder. It was but a glancing hit, but still enough to make the kairu master spin, though he was able to stay on his feet. He centered his balance with the reflexes he had been honing ever since the murder of his family all those years ago. The kairu master fell into a fighting crouch, his shoulder throbbing. Zane staggered back to his padded feet, narrowing his single, glowing eye.

Zane surprised the kairu master then, for there came a yellow flash and when it was gone the general was back in his humanoid form. He had a massive bruise stretching from forehead to temple, making him seem even more angry. He growled something and a sword made of greenish shadows appeared out of thin air, and he flourished it with diagonal cuts, drawing lines in the stone. Baphamel channeled his inner kairu into both his arms, making them glow faintly.

The two circled slowly, then clashed together with unbridled fury.

 **To be continued…**

 **I was looking forward to writing this chapter. I have always wanted to write a battle scene with one side defending a castle.  
**

 **Here is another song for a character:**

 **Cat (I know I already did a song for her, but this one fits her way better) = Vi's theme song,** from **League of Legends.**


	13. Chapter 12: Victorious

**Chapter 13**

Boomer watched as the gihox across the moat started climbing into the boats they had assembled on the far bank. They put off into the water, gliding through the mist like ghosts, their terrifying battle cries adding to the colossal din of the battle. He watched as the boats drew near, and several of the giants aboard threw grapnels at the wall. All along the wall, grapnels caught a firm hold, and the ropes affixed to them strained taut as giants started scaling the wall.

''BLIZZARD AXES!'' Boomer shouted as he rushed along the wall toward a line where a gihox had nearly made it to the top. He grabbed the conjured axe in both hands and brought it down on the rope. But the axe did not cut right through the line, for it was thicker around than his thigh, and interwoven with metal strands. He hacked repeatedly, and finally the rope snapped. The gihox still managed to grab the top of the wall with one hand and threw its other arm over, but as its head peeked up, it was greeted by a hard kick to the mouth, and it splashed into the moat below.

Boomer turned to see his squad hacking at lines all along the wall, or fighting gihox where they had managed to gain the parapet. He found himself facing one behemoth, as it swung at him with a quarterstaff that more resembled a tree. He ducked the initial swing and deflected the second to the side with his axe. The gihox raised the staff above its head and chopped down, but he sidestepped and brought his axe down on the shaft. It snapped in two, and the giant looked quizzically at the stick it now held.

Boomer did not let the opportunity go to waste, and he smashed the flat of his axe-blade into the giant's knee. The behemoth overbalanced to the side, and he promptly smashed it across the jaw with the flat of his axe. Its head snapped to the side, spraying teeth, and the brute nearly fell over the wall. It managed to grab a crenelation at the last moment, but the stocky warrior was quick to its hand. He swung the axe mightily, and it clacked against the hard stone, right after severing the giant's fingers. The behemoth bellowed with pain and crashed into the moat.

Boomer rushed over to help one of his soldiers.

xxxxx

Kieran threw himself to the ground as a huge sword flew above his head. He put his feet under him and launched himself at the gihox towering above him, and his sword plunged into its abdomen. The behemoth bellowed in agony, bringing its sword back across to try and repay the rat that had wounded it. But the young king rushed in close to the gihox, too close for the huge sword to score a hit. He gave a great tug on his own sword and it came free, blood spurting into his face. His sword flashed across high, and the giant fell dead.

Kieran spun to see another of the brutes striding toward him, clutching a sword that made all the other gihox swords look puny by comparison. The front of its head was more scar than face, and he knew it to be the gihox general leading the army. The young king held his sword up defensively before him, though he knew he could not possibly hope to block a blow from this giant among giants. He set himself firmly on the stone of the parapet, and waited for the behemoth to draw close.

''Are ye gonna kill me with that pocket-knife,'' Karbraxis chuckled.

Kieran did not reply.

Karbraxis flashed an evil smile that fast turned into a vicious snarl as it swung its massive sword. The young king ducked the blow and darted forward, his sword banging off the giant's kneecap. He struck again, drawing blood on a huge thigh, but had to dive to the side as the massive sword chopped down. He could not suppress a wince then, as cracks spread out from where the gihox sword had struck.

Kieran drew a laser pistol from its holster and aimed it at the scarred hunk of flesh serving as the face of his enemy. He was out of rounds, so he would not be able to shoot, but the gihox did not know that. Karbraxis averted his gaze to save its eyes, and the young king burst into a short charge before leaping high, swinging mightily for the behemoth's neck. The gihox lurched as it tried to react, and that movement saved its life, for the blade slashed across its chin instead. The young king darted out of range as the gihox tried to grab him.

''Don't worry,'' Kieran growled. ''I doubt anyone will notice.''

Karbraxis ran a finger over the bleeding gash on its chin, then grabbed up a soldier that had gotten too close, and heaved him at the young king. Kieran threw himself out of the way, and the human missile hurtled past. The young king was barely back on his feet when he had to throw himself to the side again, this time to dodge a chopping sword. He came up but the general kicked him in the chest, knocking him down and blasting the air from his lungs. His sword skittering away.

''Time for ye to die, runt,'' Karbraxis barked in a broken form of English.

Kieran reached for his sword but it was too far away, and he could only watch as the gihox sword rose up into the air. But then something crashed into the giant and its sword came nowhere near to hitting him. The young king gulped down oxygen and scrambled for his sword, his tired fingers closing about its gilded hilt. He looked up to see the gihox reaching over its shoulder, trying furiously to grab the person on its back, pulling at its hair. Ky ducked each attempt, enraging the gihox even more.

Karbraxis roared and hurled himself back first into a wall, and Ky barely managed to get off in time. Then the gihox general grabbed him about the waist and lifted him into the air, bloodshot black eyes boring into the black haired warrior. Ky began to cry out in pain as the giant closed its fist tighter in an attempt to crush the life from him. Spittle dripped from its torn lips, making it seem even more hideous.

Kieran staggered to his feet with his sword clutched in a white knuckled grip, green fires simmering behind his eyes. He burst into a charge that turned into a balanced skip as he neared his enemy. He leaped on to a crenelation and from it he sprang at the gihox, gleaming sword-tip leading the way. The sharp blade cut through the giant's sinewy muscles, driving deep, the crosspiece touching its chest. Karbraxis stared at him, surprise showing in its black eyes.

Ky fell from its fingers and scrambled out of reach, but he need not have bothered, for the giant's arms fell limp at its sides. Kieran could feel his sword vibrate with the behemoth's rapidly slowing heartbeat. The gihox, stubborn to the bitter end, tried to gulp down air, but its lungs were filling with blood, foamy blood pouring between its lips. Then the behemoth fell back, crashing onto its back, its glaced eyes staring up at the dark sky. Karbraxis, the gihox chieftain and one of the generals serving in the army of the dark spirit, was dead.

The gihox were dismayed by the fall of their general, and all along the wall they were either killed or thrown into the moat, or sometimes both. The ropes were cut one by one and fire set to the boats, desperate giants leaping overboard, into the cold water of the moat. The catapults of the humans destroyed many of the gihox war engines. The cheers of hundreds of human voices erupted all along the wall.

The battle seemed in hand.

xxxxx

Zane fell hard on the ground and scrambled away, glancing over his shoulder to see the kairu master calmly walking after him. He nearly got to the edge of the wall, where he could have leaped over, but Baphamel caught him by the ankle and roughly dragged him back. He rolled on to his back and unleashed a red beam from his eye, but the kairu master punched him across the face, effectively ending the attack before it had really begun. Baphamel reached down and grabbed him by the front of his shirt and lifted him up, cocking an angry fist.

But the blow never fell, and he noticed that Baphamel was not paying him any heed, but was staring into the distance. He also noticed that the cheering had stopped abruptly, and that everyone was staring into the distance. He turned his head to see what was going on, and then he understood. Something stirred in the dark sky of the horizon, a pair of tremendous leathery wings, drawing closer with terrifying speed.

''Do you see that?'' Zane yelled with joy, pointing toward the approaching dragoness. ''We are victorious!'' Baphamel turned his attention back to Zane, who was now laughing maniacally, and then the kairu master smashed his open palm into his forehead, sending him spiraling into unconsciousness.

xxxxx

Kieran had to fight with every ounce of his willpower not to let his fear show, as the dragoness approached his castle. Those soldiers who had any sense at all took cover, leaving the brave and the foolish on the parapets. The young king clutched his sword tightly, but did not see how it could possibly do him any good. He willed himself to return to action, giving courage to the men around him. He ordered the catapult crews to fire on his command.

The dragoness drew closer, its leathery wings carrying her with great speed toward the castle, and Kieran could see the purple lights of her eyes. He raised his sword and waved it forward, and the catapults loosed their contents. Balls of purple energy were hurled at the incoming beast, but it deftly managed to evade each one. The beast reached the castle even as the catapult crews worked frantically to reload, and she opened her maw and sent a destructive beam of purple energy into the courtyard. The catapults blew apart and fires blazed inside the courtyard.

Malice banked hard to the side and crashed into the main keep of the castle, claws digging into the stone and giving her a foothold. The riflemen opened fire on the beast where it hung from its perch, but if the bolts hurt the dragoness even a little, she did not show it. The beast loosed another beam, this one on the parapets, the blast incinerating many riflemen, and hurling several more into the air violently.

The battle was over in several minutes, and the invaders were the victors.

 **To be continued...**


	14. Chapter 13: News

**Chapter 13**

Maya sat with her knees pulled up to her chest by the campfire that blazed in the cave serving as the camp for her and her companions. It was getting dark outside the cave, and the fog made ominous, creeping shadows among the darkness. Cat sat across from her with her legs crossed, frowning thoughtfully as she polished her laser rifle. The fire cast their dancing shadows upon the cave wall. Roger was still out hunting, but it would not be long before he returned to the camp.

Maya thought about how she had used some strange power to save herself and her friends from the waterborne gihox. She knew the device she had found had enabled her to do what she had done, but she knew too that herself she had done something to facilitate the effect, something not all people were able to do. That much had been proven by Cat, for she had allowed the fire-haired woman to try to use the device, but her friend had not been able to bring forth any power at all.

Maya glanced over at Cat where she was inspecting her laser rifle, and checking it for any remaining uncleanliness. The fire-haired woman nodded to herself, seeming satisfied that everything was in order, then she placed the weapon off to the side. There was silence in the camp, apart from the cracking and sputtering of the fire. Their shadows danced merrily on the wall, as if they were living things.

''Have you recovered any new memories?'' Cat asked at length.

''When I awoke this morning I remembered something awful.''

Cat arched an eyebrow. ''What kind of awful?''

''I had a memory of me fighting someone atop a mountain,'' Maya asked. ''The one I was fighting looked just like me, except she had purple eyes.''

''Like an evil twin?''

''Pretty much,'' May said. ''And she is the one leading the gihox.''

Cat perked up at that. ''Maybe you were trying to stop her, and she stabbed you in the side and threw you off the mountain?''

''It's likely.''

''You were glowing when father found you,'' Cat said. ''Maybe you survived using that device you found.''

Maya just shrugged.

The sound of footsteps had both of them turning to see Roger appearing in the cave entrance with another man accompanying him. That man had the lean look of someone who had gone through hell. He had a battered and bruised face, and was wearing a brown and blue uniform that was stained with blood and dirt. He wore an empty holster for a laser rifle on his back, and he had a knife in a sheath on his belt.

''This is William,'' Roger said. ''Looks like we won't be going to Castle McCann.''

''The place was attacked by the gihox a few hours ago,'' William said. ''The battle was going our way at first, and king Kieran even slew the gihox general. But then a dragon arrived, and it tore into our ranks. The king and many of his soldiers were taken captive, as were the kairu warriors that came to aid in the fighting. The others helped me escape from the gihox, that I might deliver a message to the army of the Redakai.''

That name hit Maya like a lightning bolt through her brain, and she remembered two guys who seemed to be about her age. One was large and broad, with blond hair held back by a red bandanna. The other was a handsome man, not quite as tall as the other but hard with lean muscle, and he had jet-black hair and blue eyes. She had another memory about that one, and it was a memory that made her face glow bright red.

''Are the kairu warriors alright?'' Maya asked.

''One was sprayed with shrapnel when the dragon blew up a catapult,'' William replied. ''His condition was critical last I saw him.''

''What did he look like?'' Maya asked, hoping that it was neither of the boys from her memory, the ones she knew to be her friends.

''Short and muscular, with dark skin,'' the soldier replied. ''I am not sure, but I think his name was Dusibol.''

Maya sighed with relief, and felt guilty for doing so.

''I heard that the prisoners will be executed tomorrow morning,'' William said. ''I must inform the army of the Redakai, which should not be too far away. With luck it might be able to reach the castle in time to save at least some of the prisoners before they are executed.''

''We'll come with you,'' Roger said, and Cat nodded.

''I can not,'' Maya said, becoming the center of attention in an instant.

''Not this again,'' Cat shook her head.

''I'm serious,'' the blue-haired woman said firmly. ''I have friends there, and I must at least try and save them.''

''You'll be executed along with the rest,'' Roger protested. ''If you're not cut in half by a gihox sword before you get there.''

''I'll come with you then,'' Cat said. ''Things are always more interesting when you're around.''

''You can't come,'' Maya said.

''But…'' Cat began.

''I need you to go and inform the army of the Redakai,'' Maya insisted. ''Besides, I can move faster if it's just me.''

''You'll be killed,'' Roger said grimly.

''I have this,'' Maya held up her x-reader, and the others fell dead silent. They said their farewells quickly after that, for she wanted to be on the road as soon as possible. Cat told her that she was not allowed to get herself killed, and that she wanted to see her again. Roger told her to take care of herself, and then their ways parted. William and his two companions set off to find the army of the Redakai, and Maya set off toward Castle McCann.

xxxxx

Finding the castle was much easier than Maya could have expected, for the thick, black plume of smoke rising from it could be seen for miles. She came in sight of the structure several hours later, as she snuck through a small forest, running along branches mostly, and quietly moving from tree to tree. The castle was a blasted ruin out in the middle of a fog shrouded lake, and gihox manned what remained of the parapets. Camped on the bank of the lake was the largest encampment of gihox she had ever seen, or at least she though it was the largest she had ever seen.

Maya sat in the boughs of the tallest tree she could find, eyeing the castle and the massive encampment, trying to spot the prisoners. She did not find them, and she could not help but worry that her friends had already be executed. Not wanting to give up without proof, she climbed down from the tree and snuck into the camp. She was rewarded as she snuck past gihox sentries, for she heard them talk about the prisoners being kept in the dungeons beneath the castle itself.

Maya also learned that the executions would take place in the gihox camp, and that the prisoners would be thrown on to a burning pyre. The pyre had been built from fallen trees, branches, and furniture looted from the castle, but it had not yet been lit. Close to the pyre a group of gihox was working to put together a huge dais topped by a throne made of obsidian, where the leader of the army would no doubt sit during the executions. The thought of murders being treated as a spectator sport brought bile welling into her throat.

Maya figured there was no way for her to get into the castle dungeons without being spotted, and so she decided to wait for the prisoners to be brought out. She looked all about for a good hiding spot, but then her gaze settled on the unlit pyre. She fingered her x-reader, hoping it she could use it to protect herself from the fire that would eventually consume the pyre. Then she snuck up to the pyre and scrambled in between the logs and furniture.

Now she just had to wait for the executions to start.

 **To be continued…**


	15. Chapter 14: The return

**I have been looking forward to writing this chapter for so long, but here it is at last. Enjoy :)**

 **Chapter 14**

Ky came awake with a start as the gihox jailer opened the door to the dungeon cell that he shared with five other soldiers. Several armed gihox rushed into the room and herded him and his fellow prisoners out into the dungeon hallway. One brute picked up a man as if he were weightless, then held a thick-bladed knife to his neck and smiled, daring the young kairu champion to make a move. The men were led out of the dungeons and into the rubble-filled courtyard, making Ky wish he was back in the dungeon. For as bad as the air was down there, it was not filled with the stench of death that permeated this place.

Ky followed a gihox along a walkway crossing the moat, and into the gihox camp where he was to await his execution. A brute grabbed him roughly by the shoulder and separated him from the other five men, taking him off to the side. The gihox around him were all staring at him intently, weapons at the ready in case he tried something. The other men from his cell were herded into a larger group of men. Ky noticed that one of the gihox guarding that particular group had several x-readers on its belt. He dismissed any notion of trying to get to it, for his captors would strike him dead if he so much as twitched.

Ky looked around and spotted other kairu warriors, all of which were held separate from one another and from the regular soldiers. Dusibol was sprawled on the ground some distance away, critically injured after having been sprayed by shrapnel from an exploding catapult. Several gihox were standing a relaxed guard over the wounded man, and from time to time they prodded and kicked him. Yu Lin was screaming at the gihox to leave him alone, but that only urged them to greater levels of cruelty, and so she eventually stopped. Instead she just stared forlornly at her fallen friend with tear-stained eyes. Baphamel was not only under heavy guard, but was wrapped in chains as well, with a sturdy padlock on the front.

The gihox throng gathered to watch the executions quieted, and many of them parted to form a corridor of corded muscle and ruddy-brown flesh. Malice came striding along that corridor, her black cloak trailing behind her as she made her way toward the huge dais and the throne atop it, Zane following right on her heel. The dark spirit sat down on her massive throne, and her general took up a position beside her on the dais.

Zane looked at Ky and flashed him a vastly superior grin, but the kairu champion barely noticed. He was too busy wondering if he might manage to break free long enough to scale the dais and throw Malice on to the pyre once it was lit. It was tempting, but he dismissed that notion anyway, knowing he would be dead before he ever managed to reach the bottom of the dais. But would that be so bad, for then he would not have to watch his friends get thrown on the pyre and burned alive. And it would rob his enemies of the satisfaction of watching him scream on the pyre.

''Let the girl join her friend,'' Malice ordered, and the gihox guarding Yu Lin allowed her to go to the unconscious Dusibol. It seemed an uncharacteristic gesture of kindness from the dark spirit, but Ky knew the truth of it. The wretch wanted Yu Lin to experience hope. She wanted her to believe that perhaps there was a chance for her to help her injured friend, and that hope would only make his inevitable death all the more devastating for her. Malice smiled all the wider a short while later, when Yu Lin started crying and shaking her head, indicating that her friend was dead. Francesco cried out in rage and tried to break through the gihox blocking him off from his friend, but he was just knocked down to his knees.

''Damn you,'' Baphamel growled and fought against his chains, but he was unable to break through them.

Malice just laughed and motioned to a gihox nearby, and the brute stepped forward and touched its torch to the pyre. The logs and branches and furniture caught fire easily, and before long the whole thing was burning brightly. The dark spirit motioned toward a pair of gihox, who dragged Kieran McCann to the bottom of the dais. The young king had been stripped of his clothing, and stood completely naked before the dark spirit. It was meant as an insult, a means to humiliate him, but he stood tall and proud, staring unblinking at the petite creature seated on the throne.

''Kieran McCann,'' the dark spirit cried in a kairu enhanced voice. ''Your castle lies in ruins before me, and you and your men face execution. But this does not have to end in your death and the deaths of your men. You have the power to save their lives, if only you bend knee and serve me faithfully. What say you?''

''I say you are trying to make me forsake my principles,'' Kieran said. ''You would still give me to the flames, even if I agreed to join you.''

''Smart man,'' Malice chuckled, and the two gihox flanking the young king grabbed him and dragged him toward the burning pyre. They moved as if to throw him in, but then they paused, staring into the flames. The attention of everyone in attendance, human and gihox alike, went to the pyre. Its burning branches were rustling and shaking, and a black figure could be seen moving within its depths.

xxxxx

Maya strode through the inferno, her body covered from head to toe in a bluish-white glow, a shield that protected her from the bite of the fire. She knew she might not survive the coming encounter, but that did not deter her course, for her friends needed her. She peered through the inferno, flames rearing up before her eyes, but she was still able to see the vague shape of her evil counterpart, the figure atop the dais. She could feel hatred for that singular figure coursing through her in a raging torrent, threatening to interrupt her concentration and drop her fire shield, but she clung to it stubbornly as she strode on.

Maya burst out of the flames and into the open, swinging her quarterstaff at the pair of gihox that were holding Kieran. The behemoths were taken completely by surprise, and they went down easily at the end of her wrath. The camp around the pyre went silent for but a single moment, though it seemed to last much longer. She looked at her friends, who were all staring open mouthed at her. She smiled at them, but then her gaze shifted to the top of the dais, and her smile hardened into a dangerous scowl.

Malice was staring down at her, her face drained of blood, her purple eyes wide with horror, her mouth working soundlessly. At last the dark spirit seemed to find her voice, and started to bark a command to have all the prisoners slain, but Maya was the quicker. Her arm shot out, and a bolt of blue-white lightning struck the dark spirit squarely in the chest, making her muscles jerk spasmodically, before hurling her back into her throne. She took the great chair tumbling down the back of the dais with a resounding crash.

Maya rushed over to help Ky defeat a trio of gihox, and they dropped them to the ground in a few heartbeats. She moved as if to rush off to engage another contingent of the behemoths, but the young man grabbed her by the arm and turned her to face him. He was trying to say something, but no words came out of his mouth. Several memories came fluttering back to her, and a sensation of warmth blossomed within her, warmth reflected in the affectionate smile she beamed his way.

A mighty roar had them turning to the dais, just in time to see a massive tail smash the raised platform into a thousand pieces. A horned head reared over the rubble and opened its enormous, fanged maw, purple light washing over the pair as the dragoness charged her breath weapon. Suddenly a caper class ship with an orange paint job shot across in front of the beast, and something shot from it and into its gaping mouth. It was some sort of putrid, greenish slime, and a memory told Maya that it was a traditional dish from a planet that had been destroyed several years ago.

''Have no fear, Mookee's here!'' cried a voice from the loud speaker of the ship, as it banked hard to the right and turned about.

Malice spat out the last of the vile slime, and looked up at the approaching ship. She opened her mouth again, preparing to knock the craft out of the sky. But even as the blast of purple energy shot forth, the X-caper shot to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack. The ship slammed full force into the dragoness, knocking her over to crush a gihox in the process. But as the ship hit, it bounced off its scaly hide, and headed back into the sky. Kieran was still naked, but he had found a sword. He raised the weapon and charged at the dragoness, hacking at her scales like a glorious madman.

Maya looked around to see soldiers fighting gihox, to see Francesco and Yu Lin fighting to avenge the death of their friend. Baphamel was not far away, darting about like a caged beast, breaking bones and dropping gihox in piles, and the men and women he had trained in the fighting arts fought with precision and fury. Boomer dropped a gihox to the ground and took the x-readers the brute had been carrying on its belt and threw one over to Ky, who promptly mounted it on his wrist. That done the three friends started toward the fallen dragoness.

But the gihox were simply too numerous, and they were armed whereas many of the humans carried only rocks and sticks. And as the surprise started to wear off, the behemoths began to fight with more coordination and precision. They slew one human after the other, cutting them apart with their huge, wedge-shaped swords, monstrous spears, and clubs that seemed more like uprooted trees. For a time it seemed as if the gihox would carry the day, through sheer brute force and savagery.

But then a horn blast sounded in the fog drifting among the trees of the forest, and then more blasts followed, one after the other. Soldiers wearing blue and white uniforms appeared from the forest, gliding out of the fog like ghosts. At their head were several men wearing gray and red robes. Foremost among them was master Quantis, the head of the Redakai. He snapped off a wave, and the army of the order surged forward, attacking the gihox host with practiced efficiency.

Malice staggered back to her feet and fixed Maya with a hateful glare, then she pivoted, swinging her tail around to crush her enemies. But they managed to evade, and so she just bounded a few steps away. She glanced about to see gihox falling dead by the score, to see her army crumbling around her. Her attention went back to Kieran and the members of Team Stax who were charging at her, and then she looked at the masters of the Redakai who were also coming her way. One eye twitching with anger, she swung about, took a few running strides and took off into the air.

Malice glided over the battlefield until she spotted Zane where he was being pressed hard by several soldiers. The dragoness roared and upturned her wings, rear legs extending to grab him in a clawed foot, then she carried her flailing lover away. And all the while she thought of the catastrophe that had befallen her. Her plans were ruined, her army defeated, except for the meager garrison of her castle. Seething, she let out a thunderous cry of rage and frustration, as she soared away from the battlefield on leathery wings, leaving her soldiers to fend for themselves.

With her gone, the battle was over in minutes.

 **To be continued...**


	16. Chapter 15: Memories

**Sorry for taking so long to get this out.**

 **Chapter 15**

Maya walked among the bodies on the battlefield, trying hard not to gag at the stench of death that hung thick about the place. And if the stench was bad, the actual scenery was much worse. A murder of crows blanketed the field, black beaks pecking at flesh that had been warm not too long ago, tearing out unseeing eyes. Soldiers were at work a short distance off, burning the corpses of the gihox. The dead humans would be identified and sent home to their families for burial.

Ky walked beside her with a notable spring in his step, barely seeming to notice the dead bodies about them, the crows or the stench of death. He had been answering her relentless stream of questions for the better part of an hour now, and Maya found that her memory was becoming more and more fleshed out. There still remained several holes, but they would be filled in time, and now she had someone to help her.

Maya now knew that she was a kairu warrior and a student of master Boddai, who had raised her as a daughter. She was part of Team Stax, a group of kairu warriors who raced around the world seeking out kairu, the life energy of the universe, and the energy she had channeled earlier. She had spent a large part of her life battling her grandfather, whose name was Lokar, but he had now been stripped of his powers and apprehended by the Redakai, the order to which she belonged.

Malice, the evil twin she had fought earlier, was the person responsible for this war, and it was she who stripped Lokar of his powers. It was she who stabbed her and threw her off the mountain, where she had later been found by Roger. Malice was the greatest threat to the world for thousands of years, and her remaining general was a former student of master Boddai, and Ky's arch enemy. Maya knew that she and Ky were in a relationship, and she knew, though Ky had not brought it up, that they were quite intimate. She had regained several memories that made her face turn bright red. Those same memories also made certain parts of her body tingle.

Maya spotted a pair of familiar figures among a group of riflemen that were moving between the bodies still lying on the ground, promptly finishing off any gihox who displayed even the smallest sign of life. She smiled and waved to Cat and Roger, and the two paused in what they were doing and rushed over to the blue-haired woman. Cat wrapped her in a hug, and Roger clasped her shoulder with a smile. Maya introduced them to Ky, and the young kairu champion thanked them, for she had told him earlier that she owed them her life.

''Kieran asked me to find you,'' Boomer said, jogging over. ''A meeting is about to start, and he wants all kairu fighters there.''

''We'll be right there,'' Maya said, and she turned to Cat and Roger to excuse herself. She did not miss the slightly interested look Cat gave Boomer, and the stocky kairu warrior gave her an equally interested look in return. Then the three members of Team Stax rushed off towards what remained of Castle McCann, sweeping up Francesco and Yu Lin on the way, the two of them looking particularly haggard. The death of Dusibol had hit them hard, and their expressions were a mixture of anger and grief.

They entered the throne room, which had escaped the dragon attack relatively intact, though the windows were broken and the walls were cracked. The room was centered by a huge, round table, with maps and wooden figures splayed across it. Kieran stood with his hands planted on the tabletop, studying a map. The king had put on some clothes, a spare set of his normal clothes, but he did not wear his crown, for the gihox had destroyed it as soon as he had been taken prisoner.

The commanders of his army were gathered around the table, still wearing their armor, as were the masters of the Redakai and their commanders. Maya and her friends walked over to the table, and master Boddai wrapped her in a tight hug. Ky had told her earlier that the old man had recovered his dragon Palladion from Lokar, and was back to his super powerful self. That much was obvious, for the hug lifted her from the ground and pressed all the air from her lungs. The other Redakai also bade her welcome back to the world of the living.

''The tide has turned,'' Kieran said a short while later. ''The army of the enemy has been defeated, and Malice has been driven back to her fortress. We must capitalize on this advantage, and march our armies right to her doorstep. If we can trap her in her castle, then it is just a matter of time before we will be victorious.''

''I quite concur,'' said master Atoch. ''But while the tide of this war has turned in our favor, we must be careful not to get overconfident. We of the Redakai have sensed a great disturbance in the kairu of this land, and much of it has simply disappeared. We fear that our enemy has some other card up her sleeve, and is using it to drain the kairu from the world, hoarding it for whatever diabolical purpose she has deviced.''

''Our soldiers are weary and battered,'' master Baphamel said. ''We should give them a few days to rest and recover, before we start our march.''

''We shall go forth in three days then,'' said Kieran. ''Together we shall crush what remains of the gihox army and destroy Malice, restoring piece and order.''

The meeting came to an end half an hour later, after they had talked of medical supplies and foodstuffs. The members of Team Stax moved out of the castle and through to the other side of the battlefield which was being turned into a camp. The x caper had been landed there, and the three friends went into the craft. Mookee nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Maya, and after coming to the realization that she was not Malice, the little tangerine-colored alien wrapped his spindly arms about her waist and squeezed hard, tears of joy leaking down his cheeks.

Maya went into her room, and spent an hour just walking around the floor, studying every inch of it. She moved to her wardrobe, and found that her clothes were still there, a spare x-com and everything. She changed back into her old clothing, and made a mental note to herself that she would have to return the borrowed clothes to Cat. Next she moved to her bookshelf and started flipping through some old books. She finished by studying the pink flower in the center of the floor, and when she was done with that, she had regained memories by the score.

When she exited her room she walked straight into Cat, who had apparently come to check out the ship. Maya started to give the fire-haired woman a tour of the ship, but she could not finish it because of the holes in her memory. She called Boomer over, and asked him to conduct the tour, and that was when she noticed the devious smirk Cat wore. It struck her that the fire-haired woman had known that it would be difficult for Maya to show her around when she did not remember the ship very well herself, and that she would call someone over to conduct it in her place. Boomer was more than eager to show the taller girl around, and Maya excused herself and left the X-caper.

xxxxx

Maya sat crosslegged in the grass beside one of the streams that fed the enormous lake upon which the castle was built. She watched the water flow, and contemplated how drastically her life had changed in this one day. A thin veil of fog floated in the air about her, and it felt good on her exposed face and arms, and it was refreshing to breathe it in. Indeed her life had become a million times better, and she looked forward to the days to come, when Malice and her gihox minions were defeated.

Maya heard footsteps on the grass behind her, but she did not have to turn to know that it was Ky walking her way. From the corner of her eye she saw him sit down beside her, hugging a knee to his chest, and watching the stream flow to the lake. Serenity hung in the air among the fog, such a stark contrast to the chaos that had dominated it earlier. Neither of them spoke, neither wanting to break the silence. But then a bird cried out in the nearby woods, and other sounds followed, the silence coming undone.

''I should have come looking for you after you went over,'' Ky said quietly.

''There was no way for you to know I was still alive.''

''But I still should have come looking,'' Ky said, and silence ensued. ''By the way, how did you survive the ride down the mountain?''

''I used my inner kairu,'' Maya said. ''I remember tumbling through the snow, only half conscious, but I managed to channel my inner kairu and save my life. Well, prolong it at least, for I would have died if Roger had not found me and brought me back to the cave. And even then I would have perished if Cat had not healed my wounds.''

''I'm in their debt,'' Ky said.

''True,'' Maya said. ''They helped get word of your capture to the Redakai.'' Ky put and arm around her shoulders and hugged her tight, and Maya rested her head on his chest. They remained like that for a few minutes, watching the stream flow down and disappear into the wide waters of the lake. At length she reached down and caressed the front of his jeans, smiling as she felt the fabric tighten a bit at her touch. She could hear his heart beat faster, and his breath quickened. She felt his hand slowly slide down her side, and around to her buttocks, where he gave a caress and a squeeze. They kissed then, for the first time in months, and all the while they stroked and pinched, growing more aroused by the minute.

Ky ran his fingers over her groin, and her mouth opened slightly, her tongue sliding over his lips and across his cheek. He shrugged out of his jacket and laid it on the grass, then picked her up and placed her on it so her butt rested on the fabric. That way she would not get itchy from the grass. He pulled her boots off next, one at a time and with excruciating slowness, and he laid them off to the side. Next he removed her west and unclasped her belt. He pulled her tank top up, kissing her as the garment came over her head, his hands meanwhile going to the waistband of her trousers. Off came the trousers, immediately followed by her bra and panties.

Maya rolled onto her knees and pulled his shirt over his head, and then she went to work on his belt, fumbling with it in her haste. She tugged his trousers off and laid them on the ground with her own trousers and tank top, forming a blanket for them to rest on. She removed his underwear, flinging it to the side. Catching his lips in another kiss, she nudged him to the ground, even as she slung one leg over to straddle him at the waist. She felt him caress her with one hand, even as he guided himself in with the other. He began grinding his hips into her, and all the world was a warmer and happier place after that.

 **To be continued...**


	17. Chapter 16: Rage

**Chapter 16**

Maya walked with her quarterstaff propped on her shoulder, her steps kicking up trails in the fog that covered the valley floor. She was walking near the front of a long column of soldiers attired in the blue and white uniforms of the army of the Redakai. Her team mates and the two survivors from Team Tuatha trudged along beside her. She glanced over her shoulder, looking at the soldiers behind her. They still managed to look splendid, even with their uniforms and weapons stained with blood and dirt. The masters of the order walked up front, leading the army.

Another column marched along beside this one, the soldiers wearing the blue and brown uniforms marking them as soldiers of Kieran McCann. They looked more ragged than their counterparts, for they had been prisoners of the gihox not too long ago. Maya tried unsuccessfully to spot Cat and Roger in that column. The king himself walked at the head of his army, and master Baphamel walked along at his side. The kairu master had become somewhat of a battlefield adviser to the young king. Catapults were being pulled along by horses at regular intervals in the column.

Maya felt a pain in her chest all of a sudden, and she stumbled over a stone sticking through the turf, but managed to remain on her feet. Her friends looked at her with concern, as sweat started to roll down her face. But then the pain subsided, and she straightened and kept on walking as though nothing was wrong. Her friends bought her act, apparently just thinking she had been startled. But she was worried, for this had happened several times over the last two days, and she was starting to worry she might have a heart condition. She had not told her friends about it, for they had more important things to worry about.

A scout wearing blue and brown came riding toward the two columns, his horse churning the ground fog as it passed. The man looked wearied, though he had not been out for more than ten minutes, and his horse also looked drained. ''My king,'' he said, bowing with fist to heart, though the simple motion nearly threw him from the saddle. ''There is something terribly wrong with the landscape up ahead. I don't know what is wrong, but everything is gray and colorless, and all the vegetation is wilted and dying. There wasn't an animal to be seen anywhere, my lord.''

''This must be caused by the Cataclysm Stone,'' master Atoch said. ''Malice must be using it to drain the kairu from the land.''

''Will it affect my men?'' Kieran asked.

''I am afraid so,'' master Atoch said. ''We must find and neutralize it, or our soldiers will be too weak to fight the gihox.''

''But should it not affect the gihox as well?''

''It should,'' master Atoch said slowly. ''But I doubt Malice is foolish enough to use it if it means draining her own troops. She might have tampered with the stone somehow, so that it drains us but not herself and her gihox.''

''So what do we do?'' Kieran asked.

''The fortress is close,'' master Baphamel piped in. ''We could set camp here and gather our strength, before attacking the castle in the morning. Then we should be able to take the fortress before our strength is too depleted.''

''Alright then,'' Kieran said, and then the armies set up camp.

xxxxx

The vase flew through the air and shattered on the obsidian wall, the shards dropping into a pile of more shards and dust at the base of the wall. The act of breaking did little to relieve Malice of the rage bubbling within her. Most of her army was gone, leaving her with only the small garrison she kept here in her fortress. The gihox of that garrison were very angry with her, for they blamed her for the disaster outside Castle McCann. The garrison was even smaller now, for a gihox tribe had abandoned her, sneaking away in the night. Those few tribes who remained only did so for they feared her wrath.

Muttering a curse, the dark spirit grabbed up another vase and hurled it with all her might across the room, to shatter against the wall. One piece slid back across the floor, coming to rest against her black boot. She took a deep breath to try and steady herself but without success, and she reached for another vase. But there was none left, and so she spun away and stalked across the room, holding her head. She had gone from victory to utter defeat in the blink of an eye. There came a knock at the door and she called for whoever it was to enter, and two very nervous gihox entered the room.

''We have received news, mistress,'' the braver of the two barked. ''The humans are camped not so far away, and will reach us tomorrow.''

Malice already knew that, for she had gone out in spirit form to scout earlier. ''Is that all?'' she asked in the gihox tongue.

''Two more tribes have left us,'' the gihox said, gaining confidence.

Malice screamed with rage, and channeled her inner kairu into her arm, which she swung at the gihox who had spoken. There came a bright flash of purple upon contact, and then the entire room was sprayed crimson. ''Leave me!'' the dark spirit wailed, covered in blood, and the remaining gihox, also painted red, dropped a quick bow and exited. Its outline was visible on the wall where its body had shielded it from the bloody spray. It was the only spot on the wall that was clear of blood. Malice growled a curse as she looked at her bloody arms, and strode into the adjoining bathroom, where she drew herself a bath.

 **To be continued...**


	18. Chapter 17: A night in the camp

**Chapter 17**

Boomer made his way through the military camp, the light of the moon making the fog floating between the tents glow slightly. A soldier walked beside him, clad in blue and brown, rifle slung over his soldier. The two of them had been standing guard together for several hours. Boomer sighed, for he had only volunteered for sentry duty because of the chance he might be posted with Cat as his partner. Judging by her expression earlier, she had been hoping to be posted with him as well. But to the dismay of both, they had been posted with partners whom they did not know.

Boomer found his mind wandering back to when he had first met Cat, on the corpse-littered field outside Castle McCann. She had immediately struck him as exceedingly pretty, with her fiery-orange hair, freckled face and large green eyes. And judging by the way those green eyes had looked at him at the time, she might have thought the same about him. He had started to doubt that later on, figuring that he might simply have been too optimistic after Maya's return and the subsequent destruction of the gihox army. But his hope had been renewed mere hours later, after he had given her the tour of the X-caper.

As if thinking about her were a cue, Boomer spotted Cat some distance ahead, where she was returning from her own post. She was partially obscured by the drifting fog, but he could make out enough of her to be sure that it was indeed her. Her fiery-orange hair hung below her shoulders, and her laser rifle was slung over her shoulder. He waved to her and jogged over, the soldier beside him already forgotten. He wracked his brain for a good conversation starter, but he came up with nothing and just decided to say something. ''Hey, how's it going?'' he asked.

''It's going good,'' Cat replied. ''How about you?''

''Good,'' Boomer said with a smile. ''Sentry duty was a little boring, but in this case I suppose that is a good thing.''

Cat nodded. ''We assault the fortress in the morning,'' she said. ''A lot of people are going to die tomorrow.''

''True,'' Boomer said solemnly. ''But we'll destroy what remains of the gihox army, and put an end to Malice once and for all.''

''I saw her the other day, but only in her dragon form,'' Cat said. ''Is it true that she normally looks like Maya?''

''She does, except that her eyes are purple,'' Boomer said. ''And she tends to be dressed all in black. They are both super smart, and they both have the same affinity with kairu, but that is where the similarities end. Maya is as good as you can be, while Malice is as bad as you can be. I mean, she gathered the gihox army and sent it to attack the humans, and she is draining the kairu from the land itself. I fought her once in a tournament, and she actually called upon the living dead to do her bidding. Scared the bejesus out of me. And as you know, she can also turn into that dragon.'' Cat shivered, and it had nothing to do with the cold touch of the fog.

They reached the tent Cat shared with several other soldier women, and Boomer pulled the tent flap aside for her. But the fire haired woman did not enter the tent, but stood still, studying him with intent green eyes. The stare made him feel as if she knew everything about him, and he wondered if she could peer into his mind. He hoped that was not the case, for she might slap him if she knew what he was thinking right then. The stare lasted for but a few seconds, and then she grabbed him and pulled him into a nearby tent. It was empty, apart from piles of firewood.

Boomer was about to ask what they were doing there, but Cat leaned over before the words were out, her lips closing over his. He was shocked and thrilled all at once, and he also had no idea what to do next. His hands were at his sides, stunned into inaction by the surprising gesture, and he was not sure if he was supposed to do anything with them. Neither was he sure if he could move them if he wanted to. In spite of his stiff arms, he felt fireworks inside his chest, felt lightning surge through his limbs and warming his toes. They pulled away after a time, eyeing each other.

''What was that about?'' Boomer asked in a confused tone, but he got no answer other than her arms wrapped around his neck as they came together again. This time his hands moved, as he got back his bearings, going around her waist and pulling her closer. The fireworks and lightning still surged through him, making his mind hazy with joy and other, more base things. One of his hands went rogue then, sliding down over her posterior. The kiss lasted for a good while, but then they pulled apart again.

''Have you ever had a girl?'' Cat asked suddenly.

Boomer shook his head numbly, for everything was moving too fast.

''I've never had a guy,'' Cat admitted, and then she went on to explain. ''There is a very real possibility that one of us will not survive the coming battle. We could be cut down by a gihox, or chewed up by one of their dogs. And then there is Malice, who can turn into a dragon and bite us in half. There are a hundred ways to get killed, really.'' She paused for a few moments, as if to allow the words to sink in properly. ''I don't know about you, but I don't want to die a virgin, if I can help it.''

Boomer had been putting himself in danger for as long as he could remember, and he had grown to expect to walk away. When he thought about it, there were indeed a hundred ways in which they could be killed tomorrow. Her words had given him a new viewpoint, one that he agreed with completely. He looked at her, and saw the question in her large green eyes. He had known what she was implying before, of course, but the full impact of it hit him now with tremendous force. He answered that questioning look by kissing her again, and their hands touched each other in places.

Boomer was not sure whether he started undressing her first, or if she started undressing him. Regardless of who started, they soon stood before each other, wearing nothing except their underwear. Cat held her arms up as his large hands went around to her bra clasps, and soon enough the garment slackened across her bosom and fell. She was well provided with what the bra had been hiding. He went to his knees and grasped the waistband of her panties. He thought he could hear the voice of an Italian opera singer resonating inside his skull as he pulled down.

Cat knelt down then and pulled down his underwear, then she gave a whistle as if she were impressed. He felt his eyes go wide from what she did next, so wide that he wondered if they might just pop out of his head. He leaned against a pile of firewood, needing the support for his knees had grown wobbly. The Italian opera singer was singing like mad in the back of his mind. She stopped some time later, leaving him close but not quite there yet.

Cat sat back on her heels and reached up to coral a wayward strand of her-fiery orange hair behind her ear. Boomer knelt and put a large hand on the small of her back, bracing her as he lowered her to the ground. She was strongly built, with hard muscles beneath her soft skin. She pulled the bandanna from his head, and tied it around her own, even as he started doing for her the equivalent of what she had done for him. It took a few minutes, but in the end he had her quivering on the edge of release, her face flushed, a look that was only heightened by her freckles.

''The medics have crutches, right?'' Boomer asked suddenly.

''Yes,'' Cat replied, obviously confused. ''Why?''

''Because you might walk a little funny after this,'' Boomer guided himself into her, then put his large hands on her hips and began.

 **To be continued...**


	19. Chapter 18: The black fortress

**Chapter 18**

Maya stood on a grassy mountainside, watching the milling forms of the soldiers amid the tents in the valley below. The fog was particularly thin this morning, and so she could see a great deal of the land beyond the camp from her vantage point. But what she saw did not make her happy. The land stretched on normally for a time, but at some point everything became gray and lifeless, as if all the color had been leeched out of it. She could not sense any kairu beyond that point. She had witnessed this phenomenon before, and knew that it was caused by the relic known as the Cataclysm Stone.

''The fortress is not so far away,'' Ky said beside her. ''Chances are we will have taken the fortress before we are too drained.''

''But we still have to face Malice,'' Maya said. ''And she is probably not affected by the stone at all.''

''I'm not too worried about her,'' Ky said. ''She may be unaffected by the stone, but we have the Redakai on our side.''

''Yeah, you're probably right.''

Maya looked down the slope to the camp, to see a figure well familiar to her walking toward them on crutches.

''Boomer, what happened to you?'' Ky cried out.

''I tripped earlier,'' Boomer replied without conviction. ''I was asked to tell you that the army is about to march.''

The three friends went down into the camp and took their places with the army, at the front of the column of the Redakai. Tents were taken down and the embers of campfires were buried, and they were mobile soon after that. They marched for about twenty minutes before coming to the edge of the desolation caused by the Cataclysm Stone. Everything was gray and lifeless, even the sky. The withered grass became dust under their feet, and what few trees and bushes could be seen were rotting in fast motion. They came upon the carcass of a deer, which was little more than brittle hide laid over bones.

The soldiers were clearly unnerved by the ghastly landscape, but their desire to pay back the gihox for the death and destruction they had wrought outweighed their fear. They marched along, driven by a longing to put an end to this war. Maya could not sense any kairu at all in this place, and she could feel herself getting slightly weaker. She could see that her fellow kairu warriors felt it as well. She hoped the coming battle would go smoothly, so she would have enough energy left to fight Malice. The thought of the dark spirit made her blood boil with outrage.

The armies entered another valley, and the black fortress came in sight, its jagged spires rising into the air, making it seem like a black crown. The wall surrounding it was truly immense, and the silhouettes of gihox could be seen on the parapets. The armies came to a halt some distance from the fortress, and riders were dispatched to order the gihox to surrender, though that was protocol more than anything else. Everyone knew the giants would not surrender. And so they were not surprised when the messengers returned, shaking their heads.

Kieran ordered for the catapults to be put into place, but they were to hold their fire until he gave the signal. His soldiers took their places on the left, with pikemen in front and the riflemen, with Cat being among their number, staying in cover behind them. The soldiers of the Redakai took their places on the right, with those wielding spears and tridents forming a line in front, while the riflemen were behind. Unlike their counterparts, they boasted no catapults, but they did not need to, for they had the Redakai and their students. Maya and her friends stood in front of the army, but the Redakai were elsewhere, preparing for their strike.

Maya could see the bustle of the gihox on the parapets, and she noticed that there were very few of them. Her grip tightened on her quarterstaff then, as she saw a slight figure appear on the balcony of one of the towers. The figure leaped from the balcony, and when it was halfway down it was enveloped by a greenish glow. Massive, leathery wings spread from that glow, and then the rest of the dragoness appeared in all its horrible beauty. The beast unleashed a thunderous roar that stirred the grass dust on the ground, and it approached the armies on its long and powerful wings.

''Wait until you see the purple of her eyes,'' Kieran instructed to the catapult crews.

Maya dropped into a fighting crouch with her quarterstaff clutched in a white knuckled grip, figuring the dark spirit would attack her first and foremost. The beast approached rapidly, clearly visible, for it was colored, whereas its surroundings were all gray. It was indeed heading straight for her. The dots of purple light that were its eyes appeared, shining through the gray gloom, and Kieran cried out to the catapult crews. The catapults let fly, purple balls of energy soaring to meet the dragoness.

Malice veered at the last moment, all the energy balls but one flying harmlessly past, and with the one who hit only grazing a leg. The dragoness arched her back and banked a hard turn back toward Maya, purple eyes gleaming with hate. She opened her fanged maw and a beam of purple energy shot forth. Maya threw up a protective barrier, absorbing the attack, but the beam continued on toward the ranks of soldiers behind her. But the soldiers surprised the dragoness. As one they moved, raising their forearms as if they had a shield, and shields of energy appeared from their gauntlets, and the beam was absorbed.

Malice bellowed with anger and snapped her fiery gaze over the other army, figuring the soldiers in brown and blue to be easier prey. The dragoness opened her maw and purple light blossomed within, as she charged her breath weapon. But she was not the only one who was charging an attack. The Redakai stood in a circle, holding hands, and a ball of their collective inner kairu was growing in the middle. As the dragoness was about to unleash her devastating attack, they unleashed theirs, and a bluish white beam of energy, as thick around as a bus, shot forth.

Malice did not manage to completely evade the attack, and it slammed into her leathery wing. She roared in pain as the sheer force of the blow twisted the wing further back than it should be able to go, and she plummeted toward the ground. One wing was folded tightly against her side, but the other one was extended to the side in a limp fashion. The injured wing caught the wind as she fell, making her spin. The soldiers beneath made way, and then she hit the ground with a tremendous crash. There was silence for a time, but then the soldiers roared their battle cry and attacked the dragoness.

Malice barely felt their puny weapons as they struck her scaly armor, and she got back to her feet. Excruciating pain flared in her damaged wing, and she realized that she could not move it properly. She was sure the bone was thoroughly shattered, and the knowledge that the Redakai had managed to injure her so enraged her. She lashed out at the puny soldiers, a whirlwind of slashing claws, clubbing tail and snapping jaws. She thrust her head forward, skewering a man through the chest with her horns, and she grabbed a woman in one huge foreleg, and crushed the life from her.

One soldier after the other fell before her, and her claws and jaws were red with the blood of her weak and puny enemies. Malice noticed that the Redakai were preparing to unleash another attack her way, and she wisely decided to cut her losses and make a strategic retreat. Her great legs twitched, launching her into the air toward a cluster of soldiers, but then there came a flash of green light and it was a petite woman and not a dragon that landed among them. Grinning around a mouthful of blood, the dark spirit lashed out at the nearest soldier, her serrated knife slashing his throat open to the bone. Then she vanished in a flash of kairu.

The Redakai still unleashed their attack, but this time their target was the immense wall surrounding the black fortress. This beam was smaller than the first, but it was still powerful enough to reduce a great section of wall to rubble. Many gihox were hurled into the air by the sheer force of the blast. Kieran raised his sword into the air, and he and his army let loose a terrifying battle cry, and broke into a charge. Maya and her friends thundered their own battle cry, and took up a charge as well. They ran across the gray landscape, and poured into the courtyard through the hole in the wall, where the gihox met them.

Maya deflected a sword strike from a gihox with her quarterstaff, then reversed her strength and smote it heavily across the jaw. There came the sound of bone cracking, and a few teeth flew from its mouth, but the giant roared and came ahead. It chopped down with its massive sword. The young woman spun to the side, evading the falling blade, and then she grabbed her staff in both hands and swung mightily. Her staff struck the gihox on the temple, and this time it toppled into unconsciousness.

Maya looked across the courtyard to the massive gate of the fortress, and she wondered how she might get in. She had to stop and fight another gihox then, but as soon as she was done with it, her attention turned back toward the gate. Suddenly a thick beam of energy shot past her and struck the gate, and it became a pile of rubble. She looked back to see the Redakai standing in the gap of the wall, and she gave them a smile. Then she hefted her quarterstaff and ran into the fortress.

xxxxx

Ky noticed the gate blow apart into rubble from the corner of his eye, and the gihox he was fighting stole a glance toward the gate. That momentary distraction was all the kairu champion needed, and he was quick to capitalize on the advantage. Even as he laid the behemoth low with a well placed kicked, he saw Maya run into the fortress. He wanted to go with her, so he could be with her when she fought Malice, but another gihox confronted him. He noticed to his relief that Boomer and Cat rushed into the fortress.

Ky grumbled under his breath as he ducked under a sidelong slash of a huge sword, then he leaped in at the gihox. He lay straight out in the air, connecting with his heels on its face, smashing its eyes. The behemoth roared in pain and dropped its sword, and the kairu champion surged ahead, finishing it off with a heavy punch. Even as the gihox toppled over, he was turning toward the gate. He rushed for it, but a figure with an eye-patch stepped out of the melee to bar his way.

''Zane,'' Ky growled.

''We have some unfinished business,'' Zane exclaimed, reaching up in an unconscious movement to touch the eye-patch covering his damaged eye. ''And this will be different from our fight back at the tournament, for this time there will be a winner.''

''Get out of my way,'' Ky roared.

''Make me,'' Zane sneered, pressing his knuckles together and dipping the customary bow. ''Kairu challenge.''

''Challenge not accepted,'' Ky snapped back.

Zane issued a low growl from his throat, and then he sprang ahead, a _shadow sword_ forming in his hand. Ky dove to the side as the green blade came down, and then he pivoted, swinging a _plasma sword_ at the leg of his opponent. The one eyed general jumped back out of range, then came right back in with a thrust. And so they fought, with each gaining the advantage only long enough for the other to steal it with a clever twist or parry. Soldiers and gihox fought and died around them, the clamor of hundreds of weapons almost drowning out the clatter of their private battle.

xxxxx

Maya charged through the fortress, muscles tensed and ready to propel her backward, in case the dark spirit was waiting in ambush around a corner. Boomer and Cat had caught up to her earlier, and now they sped through broad corridors and grand chambers together, until they came into the corridor where she and her team mates had battled Malice those months ago, just before she had been stabbed. The walls and floor had been repaired, but this was unmistakably the place. She had a feeling that the throne room was near, and she was confident she would find Malice there.

Maya rounded a corner to see rows of obsidian statues lining each wall, statues depicting various kairu monsters. The craftsmanship was incredible, and they had been polished so they seemed to exude a black glow. At the end of this corridor was a great door, standing open as if in invitation to them, and beyond it there was the throne room. At the far end of it was a dais, topped by a huge throne, and seated upon it was Malice. Even from this distance the wicked smile the dark spirit wore could be seen. Her enemy in sight, Maya gritted her teeth and picked up the pace.

One of the statues ahead of them moved suddenly, taking a step out to effectively block their path. Maya ran smack into its leg, and she stumbled dazedly around the appendage and fell to one knee behind the obsidian monster. The statue was huge, well over twenty feet in height, and it was carved to resemble a _hydrax_. She had to jump out of the way as its stony tail smashed down, and cracks spider-webbed out from where it landed. The monster advanced on her friends, taking slow, thunderous steps. Several more statues were twitching to life and taking their first steps, their eyes glowing purple.

''Froztok!'' Boomer shouted, transforming into his signature monster, and grabbing the hydrax by the wrists, before starting to wrestle with it. ''Go!'' he shouted at Maya, and he twisted and heaved, slamming the monster into a smaller animated statue. That one crumbled into rubble, but the hydrax seemed little the worse for wear, with only a few scratches along its surface to mark the abuse. ''We will keep these things busy..''

Maya hesitated.

''Go defeat your dark half,'' Cat shouted to her, then she opened fire on a statue shaped like a _silverbax_.

Maya turned and charged toward the throne room.

It was time to end this.

 **To be continued...**

 **Here is another song for a character :)**

 **Kieran McCann = Feuer Frei,** by **Rammstein**


	20. Chapter 19: The final confrontation

**Chapter 19**

Maya heard the great doors slam closed behind her as she passed into the throne room, and she knew that her friends would not be able to get in. She pushed them out of her mind for the time being, knowing she needed to be focused in order to leave this place alive. She strode purposefully across the floor. There were no gihox in the room, but more importantly there were none of those horrible, animated statues. Her mind inadvertently wandered back to the corridor outside, and her friends facing down those stone monsters. She forced herself to think only about the task at hand.

''Your past sins have finally caught up to you,'' Maya said, stopping before the great dais. ''Your army is routed, and your fortress will fall in short order. You will be called to account for all the terrible things you've done.''

''I've lost the battle, that much is undeniable,'' Malice said dryly. ''But the war has only just begun. I just had a vision of the future, where the world cowers before a regime that none dares question.''

''Your lies don't impress me,'' Maya said, pressing her knuckles together and bending over slightly. ''I challenge you to a kairu battle.''

''I'm going to enjoy watching you die,'' Malice rose from her throne and dipped a similar bow. ''Challenge accepted.''

The clouds above the great fortress began to gather and the wind picked up, making them swirl. A bluish glow lit up the sky and bathed the chaotic battle below in its radiance, and the fog drifting in the courtyard reflected the glow. The banner hanging from the tallest spire flapped like crazy, and streaks of lightning flashed in the background. Thunder rolled ominously, adding to the din of the battle.

Maya lifted her x-reader. ''HARRIER!'' she shouted, and then she roared as the power of her signature monster surged through her form.

''FANARLOKI!'' Malice bellowed, and then she felt the power of her dragon flow through her, making her feel unstoppable.

Maya fell into a fighting crouch, legs wide apart and slightly bent for balance, and she clutched her quarterstaff tightly. She took a deep breath, then exhaled, surrendering to her instincts and her reflexes. It was either to due or die now, and she intended to do the former. Malice grabbed the front of her cloak and tore the garment free, tossing it off the side of the dais. The cloak fell to the floor, and the dark spirit slowly walked down the steps, a wicked grin plastered across her dark face. That smile turned into a vicious snarl then, as she launched herself down the rest of the steps and charged at Maya.

xxxxx

Ky leaped back and sucked in his belly as Zane swung at him, and the _shadow sword_ swished across mere inches from his flesh. He planted his feet firmly and deflected another one of Zane's attacks, sparks flying as the two blades met. He followed his parry up with a thrust aimed for the chest of his opponent. Zane darted back, but caught his heel on a corpse and stumbled. Ky did not hesitate to capitalize on the advantage, and he surged ahead with an over the shoulder chop. Zane threw himself the rest of the way to the ground, and the _plasma sword_ hit nothing but air.

Ky was about to end the fight with a well aimed thrust, but Zane grabbed a handful of dirt and flung it in his face. The kairu champion instinctively squeezed his eyes shut and looked away to prevent the dirt from getting into his eyes. He realized his error almost immediately, as he felt an impact against his ankle, tripping him over. He landed heavily on his back, the impact blasting the air from his lungs, and his sword fell from his grasp. He reached for it, but a foot stomped down on his wrist, pinning his arm to the ground. He looked up to see Zane towering over him, a maniacal grin on his green face.

''Our feud ends today,'' Zane proclaimed, raising his sword for the killing blow.

Ky raised his free hand even as the sword came slashing down, and a beam of acid shot from his palm. Zane cried out in agony as the acid splashed across his face, and he dropped his sword in favor of clutching at his injured visage. He stumbled back, the acid burning his hands even as he held them to his face. Ky felt the pressure on his wrist go away, and he reached over and grabbed up his sword. He staggered to his feet and turned to his enemy, who was screaming and clutching at his face.

''You're right, Zane,'' Ky said through gritted teeth. ''Our feud ends today.''

Ky burst into a charge at his opponent, plasma sword poised over his shoulder and glowing fiercely. Zane must have sensed he was in danger, for he lowered his hands, and Ky could see the ruin of his face. The skin had melted, with bits of flesh hanging and dripping from the front of his skull, leaving the red, raw mess beneath visible, and that was in turn interspersed by the white of bone. His good eye had by some miracle escaped harm, and how that eye widened in horror at his charge. Ky could see his own reflection there, could see himself swing the red sword across.

Zane stopped screaming as his severed head flopped through the air, blood gushing from the stump of his neck. The corpse crumpled to the ground, and the head rolled about in the dirt before stopping, its dead gaze settling on Ky. The kairu champion stumbled back, his plasma sword vanishing into thin air. He leaned forward with his hands on his knees, and he stayed like that for several moments, gathering his thoughts after what he had done. He also felt very drained.

Ky straightened and ran into the black fortress.

xxxxx

Maya twirled her quarterstaff left and right and forward and back, picking off the vicious jabs and deceivingly powerful kicks Malice snapped her way. She was doing an excellent job at defense, but she had not managed to get a hit through the dark spirit's defenses. She could feel frustration welling up inside her, but she smothered it ruthlessly. She would just have to be patient and wait for her opportunity to strike. That opportunity came sooner than she would have thought. Malice gave a pained grunt and instinctively brought a hand to her chest, beads of sweat forming on her brow.

Maya was not about to waste so perfect and opportunity, and grabbed one end of her staff in both hands and swung mightily. The pole smacked Malice hard on the shoulder, and with a grunt she fell to the floor. Maya twirled the staff in front of her and retracted it, intending to stab with it, but she never got the chance. The dark spirit pressed her hands against the floor and sent her inner kairu into it. Maya was about to stab when something ceased her leg from behind. She looked back to see what had caught her, and her eyes widened in horror when she saw what it was.

The floor behind her seemed to be partly solid and partly liquid, but that was not what had drained the blood from her face. That honor belonged to the huge hand that had appeared from the floor, and it clutched her leg with terrifying strength. It was the hand of a gihox, but this particular gihox was obviously no longer alive. The skin of its hand was gray and blotched by rot, and it was missing several fingernails. The head appeared out of the floor, the bloated face of a gihox. One eye was in the process of rotting, but the other was an empty socket, with a purple light blazing inside.

Maya beat at the hand repeatedly with her quarterstaff, but the zombie did not let go of her leg, and just squeezed all the harder. She saw to her horror that another gihox zombie was rising from the floor a few feet away. This one was particularly hideous, for the front of its skull had been torn clear off. Malice was getting back to her feet, and Maya knew that she did not have much time. She took up her x-reader and held it up above her head, and she was enveloped in a shroud of green energy. When it dissipated, she had assumed the form of harrier, her signature monster.

Maya rose into the air on flapping wings, and the zombie holding her leg was pulled out of the floor, and it dangled from her leg. She flew across the throne room, then banked hard toward the other zombie. She upturned her wings on the last moment and used her claws to slash the wrist of the zombie holding her. The zombie crashed into its somewhat less than alive companion, and they fell in a heap to the floor. ''HEAT BEAM!'' she shouted, and a red beam shot from her hand, striking the zombies. Their silhouttes could be seen within the beam, but only for a moment, for they were turned to ash.

Maya suddenly felt a sting in her chest, and her features twisted into the avian equivelant of a pained grimace. She clutched at her chest as she hovered in mid air, flapping wings sending soft gusts through the room. The pain began to subside, but then froztok was hurled through the great doors to the room. His violent arrival was accompanied by a spray of obsidian shards and pices. A flying shard slashed across her face, drawing a line over her right eye, though the eye was luckily spared from harm. Boomer hit the floor with a crack and slid to the base of the great dais, where he reverted back to human form.

Maya paid the gash on her face no mind, but looked from her friend to the hydrax statue that was slowly walking toward him. The stone monster was chipped and cracked in many places, and it was missing one head, but it did not care. Cat stood behind the statue, shouting curses at it even as she fired shot after shot into its back. Maya dove at the statue, and it tried to knock her out of the air, but she twisted and dodged the attempt. ''SEISMIC SHAKE!'' she cried, slamming into its chest, and cracks spread from the point of impact. With a lot of noise and a cloud of dust, the statue crumbled into rubble.

Maya looked to the where the great doors had been, and noted with dismay that more statues were entering the throne room. She felt drained, and knew that the stone was affecting her. Suddenly she heard Cat scream, and her gaze swiveled in the direction of the sound. The fire-haired woman stood very still and very rigid, and Malice was grinning over her shoulder, one hand pulling back her head, the other holding a serrated knife up to her exposed throat. Maya narrowed her eyes threateningly but did not advance, for she had no doubt the dark spirit would put the knife to deadly use.

''You are so impractical,'' Malice chuckled. ''Letting sentimentality stand in the way of doing what needs to be done.''

''And you're full of apathy,'' Maya snapped back. ''You don't care about anything or anyone besides yourself.''

Now it was Malice who glared threateningly, and she slapped Cat across the forehead with her free hand, the knife poised a breadth from her throat. But then a muscular arm darted around the dark spirit, ceasing her knife holding hand in its iron grip. Malice felt her arm wrenched away from the throat of her intended victim. She looked over her stretched shoulder to where Boomer glared pure murder at her. She tried to resist, but he was much bigger and stronger than she, and he picked her up and heaved her across the room. She slammed hard into a wall.

The statues came on then, taking slow and thunderous steps, the ground shaking beneath their feet. Maya knew she could destroy the statues, but she knew too that if she did that, her energy would be greatly depleted by the time she was done. Her hesitation only lasted for a moment, though, and she prepared to throw an attack. But she never got a chance to do it. There came a shout from the door, and a beam of orange plasma smashed into one of the stone monsters, hurling it into three other statues beside it. The statues smashed together and broke apart into rubble.

Maya looked to where Ky stood with his arm extended in the doorway, smoke wafting from his fingers and a smile on his face. She smiled back and then she turned her attention back to the remaining statues. With the whole team here, they could destroy the stone monsters and still have a chance of defeating Malice. She spread her wings and raised her hands, and a stream of red energy balls burst from them, eating away at the statues and collapsing them into piles of rubble, sending a cloud of dust into the air.

''You can't win, Malice,'' Ky exclaimed, pointing at the dark spirit. ''There are four of us, and only one of you.''

''There may indeed be more of you,'' Malice said. ''But I hold the ultimate advantage, for I'm not affected by the stone.''

''We'll just have to beat you before our energy is depleted,'' Ky said as he jogged over to his friends.

''I trust you gave Zane a kick for me,'' Boomer said.

''Zane is dead,'' Ky said, and there was no pride in his voice.

''What?'' Malice quipped from across the way.

''Zane is dead,'' Ky said again. ''Slain by my own hand.''

Malice fell back against the wall, but the wall felt distant to her, as did the rest of the room and the people in it. She shook her head violently, her mind denying the truth of what she had just heard, needing to think that Ky was lying to her. But the manner in which he had spoken had conveyed the truth to her, beyond the shadow of a doubt. Tears welled up in her horrified purple eyes, and it became more difficult to breathe. Zane had been more than just her lover. Her relationship with him had been her only link to her humanity, and with him gone, that link was severed. Now she was alone, with only her anger and her hatred for company.

Now there remained only the beast within her.

Malice sank to her knees, and let out a howl that beat at the walls, and she saw the world as if through a screen of red. She wanted to kill everyone and everything upon this miserable earth. Without consciously knowing it, she started transforming into the dragon, the monster that now mirrored her soul. A pair of great, leathery wings sprouted from her back and spread out behind her, even as her bone structure began to change. She wanted to destroy entire cities and lay waste to the land about. Her teeth became fangs and her fingers grew hooked claws, and horns sprouted from her changing skull.

''I hate to say it,'' Maya began, ''but I doubt we have enough energy to beat her.''

''Boomer and I still have a little kairu left in us,'' Ky said. ''We could share our attacks and kairu energy with you, Maya.''

''Okay,'' Maya said. ''It's worth a try.''

Cat watched them from the side.

The two boys took their positions in front of Maya and joined hands, then Ky held his x-reader out toward her. A look of intense concentration came over his face, and then he and Boomer were wreathed in a shroud of bluish white energy. That energy jumped off them and onto Maya, and it swirled about her before she absorbed it. Maya closed her eyes when it was over, and felt the combined might of metanoid and froztok coursing through her great wings and mighty limbs, and she could feel their attacks at her beck and call. The boys sagged to the floor, with just enough energy left to stay conscious.

''Use it well,'' Ky bade her.

Maya nodded, then she raised her arm above her head. ''PLATINUM HARRIER!'' she cried out, and tiny bits of shiny metal appeared, swirling in the air about her. The pieces of metal were drawn to her, covering every square inch of her flesh, and then they were hurled in all directions, revealing her ultimate monster, clad in gleaming armor. She threw back her head and opened her beak, letting out a mighty roar that was partly her own voice, and partly the screech of a bird.

Malice completed her transformation and opened her fanged maw, purple light growing within as she prepared to unleash her attack.

''RIGHTEOUS LIGHT!'' Maya shouted, reaching out with her right hand, and it began to emanate a brilliant glow. ''PLATINUM BLADE!'' She reached out with her other and grasped at the air, as if she were clutching a weapon. A magnificent sword appeared in her waiting grasp, and she held it up before her. She slid the palm of her glowing hand across the flat of the blade, and the brilliant glow was transferred over to it, making it shine like the sun itself.

Malice unleashed a beam of purple energy from her open maw, the attack fueled by all her anger and hatred.

''RIGHTEOUS BLADE!'' Maya shouted, pointing the shining sword at the dragoness, and loosing a beam of brilliant white energy her way.

The attacks smashed together with tremendous force, and the very ground beneath their feet trembled from the titanic confrontation. The white beam inched toward the dragoness, but then the purple beam pushed back even harder. The air in the throne room started tingling with raw power, and lights flashed black and white. Maya dug her claws in and poured every ounce of power she could muster into the powerful attack. The floor right under the beams cracked in fissures, and stray tendrils of pink energy shot from where the beams met, chipping the walls and ceiling.

Cat huddled against the wall, covering her ears from the noise.

Malice thought of her dead lover, putting every ounce of her power behind the purple beam, ruthlessly driving it forward. But the white beam pushed back with equal ferocity, and so the dragoness fought harder, only to have Maya redouble her own efforts. She thought of her prison within her own mind, and the years that had been stolen from her, and she channeled that boiling rage into her attack, driving the purple beam to within several feet of Maya.

Maya watched the spot where the beams met come closer and closer, until it was a few inches from the tip of her sword. She closed her eyes and thought about all the death and destruction that Malice had brought into her life. She thought of the gihox, and the blanket of crows that covered the battlefields when the fighting was done. She imagined the stench of death and the stench of corpses being burned on a pyre. She opened her eyes and looked past the clashing attacks, to the insane gleam Malice's reptilian-looking eyes, and she knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that this monster could not be allowed to walk the earth.

Maya felt herself getting light-headed from kairu expenditure, and her arms were growing numb from the punishment. Then she felt the sting in her chest, and this time it was more severe than on previous occasions. Sweat beaded on her beaked face as pain rolled over her in waves, threatening to drown her. With all the strength she had left she roared a final cry of rage and defiance, and the beams slammed into Malice, engulfing the dark spirit in a torrent of brilliant white energy.

Malice felt the white energy dance over her scales, and she let out a wail that was partly her own agonized scream, and partly rumbling thunder. Those screams only grew louder as cracks started to appear in her flesh, brilliant white light shining through. More cracks appeared, spreading across her form. Her screams beat at the walls, as the cracks widened, widened until she was barely visible for all the white light pouring out. Her screams reached a crescendo, and then they were drowned out by an explosion of light that rocked the fortress and hurled everyone in the room back against the wall.

Silence fell.

The churning clouds above the fortress stilled and went back to normal, and the wind died down to a light breeze.

A tendril of bluish white energy pirouetted gracefully through the room and dove into Maya where she lay on the floor, and the pain in her chest ceased. She took a deep breath, and somehow felt whole, somehow felt complete. She struggled to her knees, her vision swimming, and she looked to where Malice had been. There remained nothing of the dark spirit, save for gray ash scattered across the floor. She smiled a disbelieving smile, for it was finally over.

Malice was no more.

Then she fell back down into unconsciousness.

 **To be continued...**

 **I hadn't really given much thought to how it would feel to kill Malice off. I've been working with this character for more than two years now, and while I always intended to kill her off, it still feels weird that she's just gone. Well, at least she went out with a bang (metaphorically and literally). The epilogue will come soon :)**


	21. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Maya came back to consciousness an unspecified amount of time later, squinting until her eyes got used to the light. She sat up on the pallet she was on, and looked around to realize she was in a tent belonging to the army of the Redakai. She reached up to touch where the flying shard from the door had slashed her face. The wound extended down over her right eye, from forehead to cheek, and she considered herself fortunate that her eye had escaped harm. The wound had been stitched and was already on the mend, but she knew that she would have a scar there for the rest of her days. She got to her feet with a sigh, and then she pulled aside the tent flap and exited.

The scene that greeted her outside was not pretty, but it was what was to be expected after a battle such as the one that had taken place. The tent she had been in was across from the black fortress, in a camp of many more such tents. Wounded soldiers from the human armies were everywhere. Most were sitting or standing, with bloody bandages tied about them, but those who were more grievously wounded lay on pallets, such as the one she had been on. Far to the side she saw lines of forms, lying very still under blankets, and the sight brought her grief.

Maya walked through the camp, giving encouraging words to those she passed, and helping several wounded soldiers. She noticed soldiers moving about, searching for and finishing off those few gihox lying about who still clung to life. She was looking forward to getting out of this place, which had seen so much pain and death. She also noticed that the landscape was no longer wilted and dying. The color of life had returned, and she could feel kairu energy all around her. She walked around a corner and came upon her friends, where they were engaging in a conversation.

''You did it!'' Ky exclaimed as he noticed her, and he rushed over. ''You defeated Malice.''

''I couldn't have done it without all of you,'' Maya replied modestly.

''The war is over,'' Cat remarked. ''Now I can start my training.''

Maya arched a questioning eyebrow.

''I asked the Redakai if they would take me on as a student,'' Cat said. ''And what do you know, they agreed.''

''My dad will train her,'' Ky said. ''She will take Dusibol's place on Team Tuatha.''

''That's awesome,'' Maya exclaimed with a beaming smile, for she had not been looking forward to saying goodbye to Cat. She had come to realize that it was nice to have a female friend. For as awesome as her other friends were, there were certain things she would never be able to talk to them about, not even to Ky.

''And that's not all,'' Boomer said. ''Cat and I are in a relationship.''

''That's great,'' Maya exclaimed.

She noticed from the corner of her eye as the Redakai approached, their gray and orange robes covered in blood and dirt. Their expressions were stoic, giving no indication they had just taken part in a battle. They stopped before the friends, master Boddai at their head. The three kairu warriors dipped a respectful bow to the masters, and Cat did the same.

''There is no need,'' master Boddai said with an upraised hand, and the friends straightened. ''The Redakai have been talking, and have come to the unanimous decision that the three of you shall be rewarded for your part in saving the world from Malice and her minions.'' The old man paused, letting the words sink in before he continued. ''As of now, the three of you have been elevated to the rank of kairu savant.''

''Kairu savant,'' Maya said in wonder.

''Awesome,'' Boomer exclaimed.

''And with that coveted rank you get this,'' master Boddai extended his x-reader, and three x-drives appeared in the air. They stared in wonder at the monsters before them, all three of which were dragons of one type or another. They took up their own x-readers and absorbed their respective monsters, and an image of their chosen monster appeared on the screen of their device. Maya picked a small and slender beast with green scales and feathered wings. Ky selected a mechanical dragon that gleamed silver and black, and Boomer picked a huge and bulky creature, with scales that were brown in color and leathery wings that were far too small to enable it flight.

''I don't know what to say,'' Maya clutched her x-reader to her bosom.

''There is no need to say anything,'' master Boddai said. ''You have earned it.''

''So what do we do now?'' asked Boomer. ''I mean, Malice has been our focus for so long I don't know what to do now that she's gone.''

''Wait for the next bad guy, I suppose,'' Ky replied with a shrug.

Maya spoke up. ''Malice and Zane are dead and in hell where they belong, and their army has been destroyed. Lokar has lost his ability to channel kairu, and he is presently in the custody of the Redakai. Who else is left to be the bad guy?''

''You could go on a vacation,'' Baphamel suggested. ''A promotion to kairu savant and a dragon to go with it are all well and good, but you are in need of some rest.''

Maya looked at master Boddai, who was smiling and nodding his agreement.

''Alright then,'' Ky said, rubbing his hands together. ''Where do we go?''

''Someplace warm and sunny,'' Maya said. ''Hawaii perhaps?''

''Cheers to that,'' Boomer said, a broad grin splitting his face. ''Would you like to come with us, Cat?''

''Sure,'' the fire-haired woman said. ''But I'll have to tell father first.''

Maya and her two team mates walked over to the X-caper, which stood in the middle of the camp. One side of the craft was dented from where it had slammed into the dragoness during the initial stages of the battle, and Mookee was already at work smoothing out the dents in the hull. The tangerine colored alien paused his work to greet them, and he was overjoyed to hear that Malice was finally dead. He even promised to make a dish that had traditionally been eaten on his home planet in times of celebration. The three friends just backed away and ran into the ship. Cat joined them a short while later, and when Mookee was done working on the ship he got inside, and Boomer took his place in the pilot seat.

''Next destination, Hawaii,'' Maya said as the X-caper lifted into the air, and then it sped away into the sky, leaving white contrails.

 **The end.**

 **And that's a wrap. I had a lot of fun writing this story, and it'll be weird not to have a fanfiction project to work on for the first time in two years. So thank you for reading this story, and have a good day.  
**

 **I don't remember if I said this before, but for those who are interested, I also have an account on Fictionpress (I write under the name of Evilboygenius there as well).  
**


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